Calliandra Species Pages

Calliandra hymenaeodes

Rupert C. Barneby

80. Calliandra hymenaeodes (Persoon) Bentham, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 30: 537  ("hymeneaeoides"). 1875. Mimosa hymenaeodes Persoon, Syn. Pl. 2: 262. 1806. — "Richard. Hab. in Cajenna." — Holotypus, P!. — Inga hymenaeodes Desvaux, J. Bot. 3: 70. 1814. Feuilleea hymenaeodes O. Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 188. 1891. Fig. 17.

C. patrisii Sagot, Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. VI, 13: 324. 1882. — "Vidi in Herb. Prodromi a Patris in Guyana Gallica lecta." — Holotypus, G-DC n.v. (but description unmistakable). Inga hymenaeoides sensu de Candolle, Prodr. 2: 436. 1825.

Calliandra hymenaeoides sensu Jansen-Jacobs, 1976: 649.

Calliandra patrisii sensu Lemee, 1952: 55.

Slender macrophyll trees ±3-9 m with virgate branches, glabrous except for sometimes ciliolate stipules or puberulent lf-stks and primary nerves of hypophyllum, notable in the genus for simply pinnate 2-4-foliolate lvs, the papery lfts lustrous dark-olivaceous above, paler beneath, the capitula arising singly from lower efoliate nodes of condensed brachyblasts axillary to coeval lvs; phyllotaxy distichous. Stipules firmly chartaceous, lance-triangular 2.5-4 x 0.8-1.8 mm, striately nerved, becoming dry pallid, persistent. Lvs paripinnate, the lfts 1- or 1-2-jug.; lf-stks 6-27 mm, the one interpinnal segment, when present, longer than the petiole, the ventral groove open, shallow, obscurely bridged at insertion of lower lft-pair; lft-pulvinules 1.2-2 mm, strongly wrinkled; lfts inequilaterally broad-elliptic or obovate-elliptic from postically rounded, antically cuneate base, obscurely obtusely deltate-acuminate, when two pairs the distal pair a little larger, these 4-10 x 2.5-45 cm; venation of 3 primary nerves, all incurved-ascending from pulvinule, the midrib forwardly displaced to divide blade 1:2-3, the inner posterior primary nerve produced well beyond mid-blade, the outer much shorter, the secondary nerves and reticulum of venules prominulous on both faces, the margin narrowly revolute. Peduncles ±2-2.5 cm, 1-bracteate near middle; capitula 12-20-fld, the receptacle 1-2 mm diam; fls sessile, glabrous [probably heteromorphic, but incompletely known]; PERIPHERAL FLS: calyx deeply campanulate 2.4-2.7 x 1.1-1.3 mm, the tube striately nerved, the teeth ±0.3 mm; corolla 7-9 mm, the lobes 1.5-2.1 mm; androecium crimson distally, not seen complete. Pod unknown.

In lowland forest, apparently endemic to the coastal plain of the three Guianas, from the lower Essequibo in Guyana to Cayenne in French Guiana. — Map 38. — Fl. XI, III-IV, the full cycle not established.

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.

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