Campomanesia phaea (O.Berg) Landrum

  • Authority

    Landrum, Leslie R. 1986. Campomanesia, Pimenta, Blepharocalyx, Legrandia, Acca, Myrrhinium, and Luma (Myrtaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 45: 1-178. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Myrtaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Campomanesia phaea (O.Berg) Landrum

  • Type

    Type. Brazil.  Ad Rio das Pedras prov. Minarum, Sellow s.n. (holotype, B, lost; isotype at K hereby designated as lectotype; isolectotypes, BR, LE; F neg. 36386 of isolectotype at P).

  • Synonyms

    Abbevillea phaea O.Berg, Paivaea langsdorfii O.Berg

  • Description

    Species Description - Small tree up to ca. 10 m high; hairs yellowish-brown to reddish-brown, 0.20.5 mm long; young twigs dark reddish-brown, densely to sparsely pubescent becoming glabrescent, light brown. Leaves elliptic to elliptic-oblanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, 4-10 cm long, 2-3.3 cm wide, 2-3.3 times as long as wide, glabrous to sparsely puberulent, or sometimes densely pubescent along the veins; apex acute to acuminate; base acute to rounded; petiole unchanneled, 2-5 mm long, 1-1.5 mm thick, densely pubescent, becoming less so with age; midvein impressed to flat above, prominent beneath; lateral veins impressed to flat above, prominent beneath, 5-11 pairs ascending, the venation brochidodromous or eucamptodromous; blades submembranous to subcoriaceous, usually drying dark reddish-brown, somewhat lustrous above and beneath. Peduncles uniflorous (or rarely biflorous), 5-18 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, densely pubescent; bracteoles linear, ca. 4-9 mm long, ca. 0.5-1 mm wide, densely pubescent; Calyx-lobes triangular, ca. 2-4 mm long, densely pubescent within and without, each lobe with a more or less warty ridge running longitudinally without, the hypanthium splitting between the lobes at anthesis; petals suborbicular, ca. 10-13 mm long, densely pubescent without, glabrous within; hypanthium ca. 5-8 mm long from the base of the Calyx-lobes to the bracteoles, densely pubescent, prolonged in a tube ca. 1-2 mm long beyond the summit of the ovary, having a warty horizontal ridge at about the level of the ovary; disk ca. 7-8 mm across, sparsely pubescent; stamens ca. 300, ca. 10 mm long; anthers 1-1.5 mm long; style ca. 7-8 mm long, glabrous; ovary ca. 11-13-locular; ovules ca. 8-12 per locule. Fruit green, ovoid-rhomboidal, up to ca. 4-6 cm in diam. by ca. 3.5-4.5 cm long (ex Campos Porto, 1920).

  • Discussion

    Campomanesia phaea is much appreciated for its edible fruits, which are sour and are used for drinks and marmalades (Campos Porto, 1920; Hoehne, 1979). According to Campos Porto the species is also used medicinally for fevers.

    Campomanesia phaea is distinguished from other species by the warty horizontal ridge on the hypanthium and the ovoid-rhomboidal fruit.

    Berg described the genus Paivaea to accommodate a flowering specimen of this species, apparently being impressed by the unusual hypanthium. He had previously described the same species as a member of Abbevillea, based on a fruiting specimen. The hypanthium and fruit of Campomanesia phaea are unique in the genus, but otherwise it is similar to other species. If Paivaea is recognized, the distinction between it and Campomanesia is weak, whereas if Paivaea is included in Campomanesia, Campomanesia is a very well marked genus. Therefore, I have chosen to unite Paivaea with Campomanesia.

    Campomanesia phaea is certainly native to the area around the city of São Paulo, although it is also cultivated there. The type of Abbevillea phaea is from Rio das Pedras in Minas Gerais according to Berg. I think that more likely it is from Rio das Pedras in São Paulo, where Sellow passed in 1819, soon after travelling in Minas Gerais. No subsequent collections have been made in Minas Gerais. The only locality I know of where C. phaea appears to grow naturally, outside of the state of São Paulo, is in the Parque Nacional Serra dos Orgãos near Teresópolis in Rio de Janeiro. There is a town in north central Rio de Janeiro called “Cambuci,” the common name of C. phaea. Perhaps the species grows there also.

    The selective advantage of the oddly shaped fruits is hard to imagine. There is a greater proportion of flesh to seeds in the fruits of this species than in other species of Campomanesia, and they may be of a different taste and color. Perhaps a special dispersal agent is involved.

  • Common Names

    Cambuci

  • Distribution

    A forest tree known only from near São Paulo and Parque Nacional Serra dos Orgãos near Teresópolis in Rio de Janeiro.

    Brazil South America| Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| São Paulo Brazil South America|