Narratives – The Barneby Catalogue

Calliandra Species Pages

Calliandra bombycina

69. Calliandra bombycina Spruce ex Bentham, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 30: 538. 1875. — "Eastern Peru on the Huallaga ... Spruce, n. 4235." — Holotypus, labeled: "In fluvii Huallaga ripis secus fl. Mayo ostia [near 6°35'S, 76°20'W, in San Martin]," K (herb. Benth.)! = NY Neg. 1990V, isotypi, K (hb. Hook.)!, NY!. — Feuilleea bombycina O. Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 187. 1891.

C. bombycina sensu Bentham, 1876: 410, in nota sub C. trinervia: Macbride, 1943: 68, ex parte, exclus. syn. C. boliviana.

Slender macrophyllidious, arborescent or sometimes sarmentose shrubs (2-)3-7 m, glabrous except for rudimentary puberulence of some new branchlets and for the ventral face of some lf-stks, the ample papery lfts sublustrous olivaceous above, paler dull beneath, the large capitula of red fls arising singly from either lateral or subterminal, densely or loosely thatched, mostly efoliate brachyblasts, the peduncles subtended by relatively large, thick-textured stipules, most capitula therefore elevated above coeval foliage. Stipules obtuse deltate-triangular from subcordate base, 2.5-5.5 x 2-4.5 mm, dorsally 11-19-nerved, persistent. Lf-formula i/(1½-)2, the smaller lower pair of lfts often unequal in size and not quite opposite, the anterior 1ft sometimes wanting; lf-stks (1-)1.5-5 cm, at middle 0.8-1.9 mm diam, shallowly sulcate ventrally; rachis of pinnae 2-7 cm, one member of some pairs shorter than its fellow, all dilated at apex into narrowly winged sockets accommodating the pulvinules; lft-pulvinules 2-4.5 x 1-2 mm, coarsely wrinkled; lft-blades obliquely elliptic, (ob)ovate- or broadly lance-elliptic from inequilaterally broad-cuneate base, nearly always shortly acuminate and at very apex obtuse mucronulate (shallowly emarginate), the distal pair (7-)8-16 x (2.8-)3.8-7.5 cm, (1.7-)2-2.8 times as long as wide; venation palmate-pinnate, the forwardly incurved midrib displaced to divide blade ±1:2, the inner posterior primary nerve incurved-ascending well beyond midblade, the outer 1-2 primary nerves shorter, the secondary and reticular venules sharply elevated on both faces. Peduncles 12-23 mm, bracteate near middle; capitula 20-28-fld, the clavate receptacle 2-4 mm, the fls homomorphic, subsessile or obscurely stoutly pedicellate; bracts ovate or oblanceolate 0.8-1.8 mm, striately nerved, persistent; pedicels 0.4-1 x 0.6-1.2 mm; perianth 5-merous, the calyx sharply striate, glabrous or almost so, the red corolla strigulose- pilosulous, striate but more finely so; calyx campanulate 2-3.5 x 2.2-3.2 mm, the broad obtuse teeth 0.250.9 mm, but one or more sinuses often more deeply split in age; corolla broadly tubular-campanulate 8.5-13 x ±4-5 mm, the ovate lobes 2-3.2 mm; androecium 44-54-merous, 45-62 mm, the stemonozone 1.8-2.2 mm, the tube 8-12 mm, either a little longer or a little shorter than corolla, the tassel vivid red or red-violet; intrastaminal disc drum-shaped 0.7-1 mm; ovary glabrous. Pods (few seen) probably erect, in profile ±9.5-13 x 0.8-1.2 cm, ±8-seeded, the valves and sutural ribs smooth glabrous; seeds unknown.

In seasonally dry forest, 200-650 m, localized in the lower valley of Río Huallaga and its tributaries, between 6°S and 8°S in depto. and prov. San Martin, Peru. — Map 33. — Fl. XII-V, IX, the full cycle not documented by specimens.

Calliandra bombycina resembles C. trinervia in many respects, but differs in mostly 8-foliolate leaves, finely striate corolla, and more numerous (44-54, not 12-32) filaments of uniformly dark red color. Spruce recorded that the flower-heads were worn as hair-ornaments by the native women.

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.