Ophiocaryon paradoxum R.H.Schomb.
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Authority
Maguire, Bassett. 1972. The botany of the Guayana Highland--part IX. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 23: 1-832.
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Family
Sabiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Discussion
This is the original snakenut, already known as a curiosity in Europe before discovery of the tree itself. Oliver’s description and plate in Hooker’s lcones (Pl. 1594. 1887) summarizes all that is known of the species. Only one more modern collection has been seen, Fanshawe 1997 (K), but this also is from the lower Essequibo, to which O. paradoxum is apparently endemic. The only other Ophiocaryon yet found in the coastal lowlands of the Guianas is O. chironectes, a member of the Phoxanthus series with acuminate petals. The differential characters of O. maguirei, the one other Ophiocaryon known from British Guiana, are mentioned under that species below.