Calliandra Species Pages

Calliandra erythrocephala

Rupert C. Barneby

66.  Calliandra erythrocephala H. Hernandez & Sousa, Syst. Bot. 13: 519, figs. 1, 3. 1988. — "Mexico, Guerrero, Mpio. Atoyac de Alvarez, Las Golondrinas, a 22 km al NE de El Paraíso camino a Filo de Caballo, alt. 1000 m, 7 Sep 1983, E. Martínez S. & J. L. Villaseñor 4237." — Holotypus, MEXU n.v.; isotypus, NY!.

Macrophyllidious trees 3-5 m, appearing glabrous when adult but the lf-axes and principal lf-venation minutely puberulent in vernation, the ample thin-textured lfts lustrous olivaceous subconcolorous, the capitula of vivid red fls arising singly from efoliate axils of thatched brachyblasts axillary to hornotinous or lately shed primary lvs of long-shoots; phyllotaxy distichous. Stipules subtending primary lvs narrowly triangular or lanceolate ±2.5-5 x 1-1.5 mm, 6-8-nerved when young, becoming dry brittle, those of brachyblasts similar but somewhat shorter, persistent. Lf-formula i/3—4(—5); lf-stks 5-16 mm, at middle 0.8-1.2 mm diam, shallowly grooved ventrally; rachis of longer pinnae ±3.5-8.5 cm, the longer (distal) interfoliolar segments 1-3 cm; lft-pulvinules 0.8-1.8 x 1-1.3 mm, coarsely wrinkled; lfts accrescent distally, the blades subsymmetrically lance-elliptic-acuminate from semicordate base, straight or a little incurved beyond middle, at very apex either acute or obtuse-apiculate, the furthest pair 3-10.5 x 0.8-3.5 cm, 2.3-3.1 times as long as wide; venation pinnate or essentially so, the weak primary nerve posterior to the centric or moderately displaced midrib no stronger and hardly longer than the first secondary nerve on posterior side of blade, the major secondary nerves ±7-10 on each side, all these together with tertiary and reticular venules prominulous on both faces. Peduncles (2-)2.5-6 cm, ebracteate; capitula 8-16-fld, the receptacle ±2.5 mm diam; bracts obtusely deltate, <1 mm, persistent; fls subhomomorphic, the calyx of the furthest a little broader but hardly longer than that of peripheral fls; pedicels scarcely differentiated externally, in section 0.5-0.7 x 0.9-1.1 mm; perianth submembranous, 4-5-merous, dark red, glabrous except for micropuberulent orifice of calyx, the calyx ±8-10- nerved, the corolla externally nerveless; calyx campanulate subtumid ±2.2-2.7 x 2 mm, the broad depressed teeth ±0.3 mm, but 1-2 sinuses sometimes deeper; corolla (in protologue "6-")11-13 mm, the lance-ovate lobes 1-2.8 mm; androecium 20-22-merous, ±5 cm, the tube as long as corolla or exserted to 2.5 mm; disc of peripheral fls 0.6-1.1 mm; ovary not seen. Pods described and figured as drooping, 15 x 1.5 cm, glabrous, the valves thickly membranous; seeds in broad view "9 x 6 mm," the testa speckled, pleurogrammic.

In subdeciduous and moist montane forest, in Guerrero at 1830-2230 m, in Oaxaca at 1000-1130 m, localized in s. Mexico and Honduras: Oaxaca, mun. Pochutla; Guerrero, mun. Quechultenango, and Atoyac de Alvarez; near 15°N, 86°W in Honduras (Gualaco). — Fl. VI-XI.

Calliandra erythocephala fits neatly into the arbitrarily defined ser. Ambivalentes having the geminate pinnae and ample leaflets of ser. Macrophyllae but the leaflets 4-5 pairs per pinna, like those of ser. Nitidae in number but much larger. Its pinnately veined leaflets resemble those of C. laevis but are 3-4 pairs, not exactly 1 pair, per pinna.

References: [Article] Barneby, Rupert C. 1998. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: A generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part III. Calliandra. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74: 1-223.