Luma apiculata (DC.) Burret
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Authority
Landrum, Leslie R. 1986. Campomanesia, Pimenta, Blepharocalyx, Legrandia, Acca, Myrrhinium, and Luma (Myrtaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 45: 1-178. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Myrtaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Chile. In Chili, [Ruiz et Pavon?] (holotype, G-DC, n.v.; probable isotypes, F, G; F neg. 7930 of holotype, photo at NY).
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Synonyms
Eugenia apiculata DC., Eugenia gilliesi Hook. & Arn., Eugenia affinis Gillies, Eugenia hookeri Steud., Eugenia apiculata var. arnyan Hook.f., Eugenia barneoudii O.Berg, Eugenia spectabilis Phil., Eugenia modesta Phil., Eugenia proba O.Berg, Eugenia mucronata Phil., Eugenia palenae Phil., Eugenia cuspidata Phil., Eugenia ebracteata F.Phil., Myrceugenia apiculata (DC.) Nied., Myrtus chekenilla Kuntze, Luma gilliesi (Hook. & Arn.) Burret, Luma spectabilis (Phil.) Burret, Luma hookeri (Steud.) Burret, Myrceugenella apiculata (DC.) Kausel, Myrceugenella apiculata var. genuina Kausel, Myrceugenella apiculata var. spectabilis (Phil.) Kausel, Myrceugenella apiculata var. australis Kausel, Myrceugenella grandjotii Kausel, Myrceugenella apiculata var. nahulhuapensis Kausel
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Description
Species Description - Shrub or small tree up to ca. 10 m high, the trunk smooth, appearing somewhat twisted, the bark greyish to bright orangish-brown; hairs whitish, 0.1-1 mm long, straight or curled; young twigs light reddish-brown, densely to sparsely puberulent to villous, becoming glabrescent with age. Leaves elliptic to suborbicular, less often ovate or lanceolate, 1-4.5 cm long, 0.5-3.5 cm wide, glabrous or villous to puberulent along the midvein and margins below; apex apiculate or abruptly acuminate, terminating in an apiculum ca. 1 mm long; base acute to rounded; petiole 1-2 mm long, 0.5-1 mm wide, puberulent to villous; midvein flat or slightly impressed proximally above, prominent below; lateral veins indistinct or up to ca. 8 pairs faintly visible; marginal veins equalling laterals in prominence; blades subcoriaceous, somewhat fleshy when fresh, drying reddish-brown, greyish-brown, or dark olive-green, somewhat darker above than below, not noticeably glandular or with a few scattered glands, the lower surface usually somewhat striate, the margins usually revolute. Peduncles uniflorous or bearing a dichasium of three (rarely more) flowers, 5-30 cm long, ca. 0.5 mm wide, villous, puberulent, or glabrous; bracteoles membranous, deciduous before anthesis, narrowly lanceolate-triangular, ca. 1-1.5 mm long, sparsely puberulent; Calyx-lobes triangular-ovate to suborbicular, 2-3(-4) mm long and wide, about as wide as long, ciliate, otherwise glabrous or nearly so; petals suborbicular, ca. 3-5 mm long, ciliate, otherwise glabrous; hypanthium glabrous or nearly so, ca. 2-3 mm long, the sides concave; disk ca. 3 mm across, sometimes becoming a raised cone at the base of the style shortly after the petals and stamens fall; stamens 170-300, ca. 5-7 mm long; anthers ca. 0.4 mm long; style 6-7 mm long, normally glabrous; ovary 2-locular; ovules 6-14 per locule. Fruit subglobose, up to ca. 1 cm in diam., dark purple. Seeds 1-16 per fruit, 3-6 mm long.
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Discussion
Used for handles of tools and domestic utensils (Rodriguez et al., 1983). I have seen the attractive orangish-brown trunks of small trees used in woven fences in Chiloe.
Luma apiculata is perhaps the most common and widespread species of Myrtaceae in temperate western South America. In most regions the bark of the trunk is various shades of bright orangish-brown, with white spots where bark has recently exfoliated (Fig. 50). On the Quetrihué Peninsula, in Lago Nahuel Huapi, in western Argentina, an especially beautiful forest has been set aside as “Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes.” The species is cultivated as an ornamental in California and perhaps in other mediterranean climates also. -
Common Names
arrayán, palo colorado, Temu, temo, collimamol, collimamul
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Distribution
A shrub or small tree of matorral and forests from Valparaíso to Aysen in Chile and in the forested regions of Río Negro, Neuquén, and Chubut in Argentina. Usually growing in localities with abundant humidity during at least part of the year, but not in soils that are continuously wet.
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