Calliandra Species Pages

Calliandra haematomma var. locoensis

Rupert C. Barneby

82g.  Calliandra haematomma (de Candolle) Bentham var. locoensis (Garcia & Kolterman) Barneby, stat. nov. C. locoensis Garcia & Kolterman, Caribbean J. Sci. 28: 57, figs. 1, 2. 1992. — "Puerto Rico, Mun. Yauco, Bo. Sósua Alta, Bosque Estatal de Sósua, en las orillas de una quebrada que desemboca en el Río Loco ... 17 feb. 1991, Garcia & Caminero 3425" — Holotypus, n.v.; isotypi, NY!, and (not seen) JBSD, K, MO, RAC, UPR, US.

Shrubs to 3 m tall; lfts facially glabrous, ciliolate; stipular spicules 3-13 mm; petiole of primary lvs 2—4 mm and longer rachises 25-35 mm, the longer interfoliolar segments 1.4-1.8 mm; lfts of larger lvs 14-18(-19) pairs, the penultimate ±5-9 x 1-1.7(-3) mm; calyx glabrous except for ciliolate teeth; corolla white-silky; pod thinly pilosulous glabrescent.

On creek banks, on serpentine bedrock, 170-200 m, locally plentiful but known only from the type-locality in the basin of Río Loco, near 18°05'N, 66° 54'W, in s.-w. Puerto Rico. — Fl. I—III(—?).

The var. locoensis is visually arresting in the context of C. haematomma because of the relatively long leaf-rachises and numerous leaflets, but has everything else in common with var. haematomma. The var. tortuensis approaches it in leaflet-number, but is probably an independent modification in the same direction. The one known Puerto Rican population of C. haematomma, at Guayanilla, is strictly typical var. haematomma.

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.