Cojoba costaricensis
Rupert C. Barneby
6. Cojoba costaricensis Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 31. 1928. — "Costa Rica. Type from La Palma, 1459 m. altitude, 1898, Tonduz 12503." — Holotypus, US 366004!; isotypi, NY (fragm.)!, US 355509!. —Pithecellobium costaricense (Britton & Rose) Standley, Trop. Woods 34: 40. 1933.
Pithecellobium costaricensis sensu Zamora, 1991: 131.
Tree to 8 m tall, the trunk attaining 60 cm dbh, the bark apparently red-brown, with white pustular- crateriform lenticels, the young branches and buds densely red-brown-pubescent, the buds velvety, the leaf-axes and peduncles golden-blond- to blond-red- pubescent, the hairs on all parts mostly ascending- erect, ascending-appressed, or erect 0.2-0.4 mm long, the leaves bicolored, the ample, relatively coarse-textured leaflets dark green above, paler beneath, the solitary capitula of white flowers axillary to coeval leaves, or at efoliate nodes on annotinous branches, hence either immersed in or surpassed by the foliage. Stipules deltate or thickened and deltoid, 0.75-1.25 mm, fugacious, present only at inception of leaves. Lf-formula (iv-)v-x/(7-)9-19, the lf-stk 6.5-19.5 cm, the petiole 1.4-4.2 cm, the interpinnal segments 0.7-2.4 cm, the proximally semi-terete to more or less dorsiventrally flattened lf-stk charged between first pinna-pair with a stalked-poriform nectary 0.5-1 mm diam and 0.5-1 mm tall, similar but smaller nectaries present between subsequent pinna- pairs and between some if not all lft-pairs, the pinna- pulvinus most commonly surmounted by a similar nectary and a lft-pair, if not immediately surmounted by such then the first lft-pair accompanied by a stalked nectary, or if nectary rarely lacking then lfts usually present at apex of pinna-pulvinus, the pinna- pulvinus only rarely lacking lfts and nectary; lft- pulvinules of each lft-pair subcontiguous on ventral side of pinna-rachis, 0.4—0.7 mm, moderately golden- brown-puberulent, transversely obscurely wrinkled; lfts more or less sessile against rachis, decrescent proximally, thence subequilong to decidedly distally accrescent, the blade asymmetrically lance-elliptic or lance-ovate from an inequilaterally semicordate base, the apex acuminate, those near distal end (excluding terminal pair) (4—)6-20 x 3-7 mm, (1.3-)2.3-4.6 times longer than broad; venation pinnate-palmate, the subcentric midrib distally falcate, the 1 or 2 nerves from pulvinule fading or brochidodrome well below midblade, the secondary venation prominulous on both faces, the tertiary venation obscure on upper surface, faint and immersed on lower. Peduncles solitary, 2-8 cm, charged or not near middle with a coarse, thickened, deciduous bract; capitula 38-53- flowered, the subsessile homomorphic flowers spreading in all directions from a (sub)globose receptacle 4—6 mm long; the fugacious bracts (very few seen) proximally obtriangular, distally spatulate, 0.5-0.75 mm, the tip incurved and somewhat thickened, dorsally red-pubescent; perianth greenish when dried, described as white on tree, externally glabrous save for the always red-puberulent calyx-lobes; calyx cylindric, at least faintly 5-nerved, 2-4(-4.75) mm, the unequal, depressed-deltate teeth 0.1-0.4 mm; corolla cylindrical-campanulate, (9-) 11-15 mm, the ascending or arcuate-reflexed, ovate or triangular lobes unequal, 1-2 mm, at tip internally thickened and under magnification cucullate; androecium 27-45-merous, 16-23 mm, the stemonozone 1-2.5 mm, the staminal tube 8-10.5 mm, shorter than corolla, lacking a nectarial disc; ovary (sub)sessile, slenderly ellipsoid, glabrous, the style equal to or slightly surpassing the stamens, the stigma poriform. Pods 1 or 2 per capitulum, pendulous, (sub)moniliform from a stipitate base, the body 3-12-seeded, 3.5-15 cm long and 0.9-1.2 cm wide over seed-cavities, the isthmi 2-10 mm long, the orange-red valves finely to coarsely wrinkled and minutely sparingly golden-puberulent over seed- cavities, smoother and more densely puberulent near to and over the isthmi, the endocarp smooth, light brown; dehiscence through both sutures, the valves upon dehiscence scarcely or strongly coiled and/or twisting and narrowly gaping to expose seeds one at a time, these held on a short, straplike, fragile funicle; seeds ovoid to ellipsoid ±1 cm diam, or ellipsoid ±10-11 x 7-9 x 5-7 mm, the blue-black seed-coat coarsely but sparingly wrinkled, fragile, adherent to the greenish embryo.
Confined to wet forests, at 900-1900 m, of the Cordillera Central of Costa Rica. — Map 17. — Fl. and fr. nearly throughout the year, blooming anew while mature fruit are still on the tree.
References: [Article] Barneby, Rupert C. & Grimes, James W. 1997. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: A generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part II.