Calliandra Species Pages
Calliandra longipes
Rupert C. Barneby
81. Calliandra longipes Bentham, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 30: 538. 1875; & in Martius, Fl. bras. 15(2): 410, t. ciii. 1876. — "... in provincia Goyaz inter Capão S. João et Ribeira dos Muencos [misreading of Macacos]: Burchell n. 6538, 7188, 7499; prope Paracatú prov. Minas Geraës: Lund." — Lectotypus, Burchell 7499, K (hb. Hook.)! = NY Neg. 1950; isotypus, GH!. — Feuilleea longipes O. Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 188. 1891. Fig. 18.
C. longipes fma. nana Chodat & Hassler, Bull. Herb. Boissier II, 4: 484. 1904. — "[PARAGUAY.] ... ad ripam fluminis Tapiraguay [s.-e. of San Estanislao], Aug., [Hassler] n. 4312." — Holotypus, G n.v.
C. longipes var. valenzuelensis Chodat & Hassler, Bull. Herb. Boissier II, 4: 484. 1904. — "[PARAGUAY.] ... in campis siccis glareosis pr. Valenzuela, Jan., [Hassler.] n. 7005." — Holotypus, G n.v.; isotypus, NY!.
C. pyrophila Fernandez Casas & Schinini, Fontqueria 4: 29, fig. 1, 2. 1983. — "PARAGUAY, Caaguazú, entre Yhú y San Blas ... Fernandez Casas 3855 & Molero, 23-IX-1980." — Holotypus, MA n.v.; isotypi, NY!, and (not seen) CTES, G, MO.
C. longipes sensu Glaziou, 1905: 187; Burkart, 1952: 110; Hoc, 1992: 204, Map 1.
Functionally herbaceous, macrophyllidious subshrubs of singular habit, with obliquely or horizontally creeping, shallowly buried rhizomes said to become 1 m long, the precocious scapiform peduncles arising at or shortly below soil-level, from 1-2 lowest, efoliate nodes of the erect foliate stems, these hysteranthous, attaining 1-3 dm, ±3-5-lvd, like the lf-axes and lfts either glabrous or thinly evanescently pilosulous, the mature lfts chartaceous venulose; phyllotaxy distichous. Stipules triangular-ovate or lanceolate 1.5-3 mm, weakly several-nerved, persistent. Lf-formula i/1½, the lfts exactly 6 per lf; petioles 4.5-7.5 cm, ±1 mm diam, at apex dilated into a shallow cupule; rachis of pinnae ±2.5-3 cm, the odd (posterior) 1ft inserted below middle, as long as or scarcely longer than terminal pair; lft-pulvinules discolored ±1 mm; lft- blades obliquely obovate or elliptic from shallowly cordate base, obtuse or sometimes subemarginate, the larger ones 5.5-10 x 2-3.5 cm, 1.8-3.5 times as long as wide; venation palmate-pinnate, the gently incurved midrib a little forwardly displaced from mid-blade, giving rise on each side to 4-8 major incurved-ascending (and some weaker intercalary) secondary nerves and an open tertiary reticulum of veinlets, the inner posterior primary nerve produced to anastomosis almost to or shortly beyond midblade, the whole venation becoming pallid and prominulous on both faces. Peduncles at anthesis 6-18 cm, bracteate near or below middle; capitula 12-25-fld, the homomorphic fls subsessile, the depressed-convex or claviform receptacle 2.5-45 mm diam; bracts subulate, linear-oblanceolate, or -spatulate 0.7-2 x 0.4-0.5 mm, persistent; perianth glabrous except for brownish-puberulent calyx-teeth and minutely ciliolate corolla-lobes, the pallid calyx finely ±25-nerved, the distally pink corolla almost nerveless externally; pedicels 0.3-0.8 x 0.6-0.8 mm; calyx 2.4-2.7 x 2-2.5 mm, the subtruncate teeth 0.45-1.2 x 0.8-1 mm, at apex incurved and gibbous dorsally; corolla 8.5-13.3 mm, the ovate lobes 2.4-2.8 mm; androecium 66-82-merous, 21-33 mm, the stemonozone 1.8-3 mm, the whitish tube 9-18 mm, the tassel red; no intrastaminal nectary. Pods erect, narrowly oblanceolate 6.5-12.5 x 0.75-0.85 cm, the sutural ribs 3-4 mm wide in dorsal view, the crustaceous glabrous valves recessed when young, becoming low-convex at maturity, sinuously venulose lengthwise; seeds obovoid-ellipsoid, variably rhombic- angular, the testa smooth, castaneous or dull gray, the U-shaped pleurogram pallid but not incised.
In campo subject to fire, ±200-750 m, apparently local in scattered stations on the Brazilian Planalto, in n.-e. Argentina, and Paraguay: in Brazil known from s. Goiás, adj. s.-e. Mato Grosso, and w. and centr. Minas Gerais (Paracatú; Sa. do Inficionado); in Paraguay from Sa. de Amambay s. to centr. Caaguazú and Cordillera; in Argentina local in s. Misiones. — Map 38. — Fl. IX-I.
Calliandra longipes varies in lengths of corolla and stamen-tube, but flower-size is not significantly correlated with distribution. The type of C. longipes, from Goiás, and that of var. valenzuelensis, from Paraguay, have equally long perianth and stamen-tubes, whereas those of fma. minor and C. pyrophila, both from province Caaguazú in Paraguay, have shorter perianth and included stamen-tubes.
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.Multimedia:
