Calliandra Species Pages
Calliandra pedicellata
Rupert C. Barneby
83. Calliandra pedicellata Bentham, London J. Bot. 3: 102. 1844. — "Haiti, [C. A.] Ehrenberg [385]." — Holotypus, collected Jun, 1831, †B. — Feuilleea pedicellata O. Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 188. 1891. Anneslia pedicellata Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 76. 1928. FlG. 20.
C. pedicellata sensu Bentham, 1875: 545; Urban, Symb. antill. 8: 254. 1920; Alain, 1985: 30.
Erect, few-stemmed, xeromorphic microphyll shrubs 0.6-3 m with virgate long-shoots densely clothed in short recurved lvs, armed at most nodes with a pair of either ascending or declined post-stipular spicules or conical spurs (0.5-)14.5(-5.5) mm, the young stems, lf-axes and peduncles thinly or remotely pilosulous with weak fine hairs 0.3-1 mm, the plane coriaceous lfts facially glabrous, sometimes remotely ciliolate or microscopically granular-ciliolate, slightly discolorous, the long-pedunculate umbelliform racemes of long-pedicellate fls arising singly from 1-2 efoliate nodes of very short brachyblasts axillary to distal primary lvs, these units of inflorescence together forming a compact or loosely elongate terminal psudoraceme. Stipules of primary lvs ovate or lanceolate 1-3.5 x 0.5-1.1 (-1.4) mm, the papery blades appressed, striate, persistent, those of brachyblasts similar but smaller, lacking basal spurs. Lf-formula i/(4-)5-9(-10); lf-stk of primary lvs, including pulvinus, 0.6-1.6(-2.1) mm, dorsiventrally compressed, shallowly grooved ventrally; pinna-rachises of primary lvs 5—12(—15) mm, the longer interfoliolar segments 0.8-1.6 mm; lft-pulvinules 0.1-0.2 x 0.15-0.25 mm; lfts usually a little accrescent upward except for the often shorter and broader terminal pair, the blade of those near and above mid-rachis oblong or narrow- oblong from semicordate base, some a trifle widened toward apex, all obtuse or apiculate, the longer ones (3-)3.2-5.5(-5.7) x 1-1.8(-2) mm, 2.3-3.6 times as long as wide; venation palmate-pinnate, immersed or nearly so ventrally, bluntly prominulous dorsally, the midrib forwardly displaced to divide blade 1:1.5-2, 2-3(-4)-branched on one or both sides, a weak inner (or only) posterior primary nerve incurved-ascending to anastomosis well short of mid-blade. Peduncles (1.5—)2—3.5 cm, bracteate above middle; capitula umbelliform (10-) 12-24(-26)-fld, the floral axis 1.5-3.5 mm; bracts papery, narrowly ovate or linear-subulate 0.5-1.3 mm, incurved, persistent; pedicels all equilong or some distal ones a little shorter, the longest (2-)2.5-8 mm; fls homomorphic (except some staminate, some bisexual), the glabrous perianth (4—)5(-6)-merous; calyx campanulate or hemispherical 1.8-2.3 x 2-2.8 mm, the tube ±15-nerved, the triangular or depressed-ovate teeth 0.4-1.1 mm; corolla 4.8-6 mm, the ovate lobes (0.9-)1.2-2.4 mm; androecium 16-20-merous, 14-21 mm, the stemonozone 1.3-2.1 mm, thickened internally, the tube 3.6-5 mm, the tassel dull white or ochroleucous; disc 0; ovary usually villosulous, sometimes glabrous at anthesis. Pods in profile 4-7.5 x 0.6-0.8 mm, subappressed-silky-pilose overall, the sutural ribs in dorsal view 2-2.5 mm wide, the stiffly leathery valves low-convex over each of 3-6 seeds, these (few seen) ±5x4 mm, light brown, finely pleurogrammic.
In cactus-thornscrub, deciduous thorn-forest, and xeromorphic thickets, from near sea level to 380 m, discontinuously widespread in parts of w. Hispaniola: n.-w. and centr. Haiti, in départements Nord-Ouest, Artibonite and Ouest; s.-w. Dominican Republic in provinces Independencia, Barahona, Azua, and Peravia. — Fl. intermittently, most prolifically following rains.
Calliandra pedicellata has the characteristic, dorsally appendaged stipules of sect. Acistegia and in vegetative characters closely resembles the polymorphic and sympatric C. haematomma. Its umbelliform capitula and whitish tassel of filaments are, however, substantially different.
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:
