Calliandra Species Pages

Calliandra lintea

Rupert C. Barneby

85.  Calliandra lintea Barneby, sp. nov., ut videtur C. bahianae et C. nebulosae Barneby affinis, ab ilia floribus magis numerosis (utriusque capituli plerumque 7-11, nec 3-6) et perianthio parvulo, haud rubro-granuloso, ab hac foliorum formula ix-xiii/36-50 (nec iv-vi/24-35), foliolisque 3-5.5 (nec 5-8) mm usque longis distans. — BAHIA. Mun. Lençois: On trail to Barro Branco ±5 km n. of Lençois, 13 Jun 1981 (fl, fallen fr), S. A. Mori (with B. M. Boom) 14400. — Holotypus, CEPEC; isotypi, K, NY.

Microphyllidious shrubs 8-40 dm with stout, simple or distally few-branched, virgate long-shoots but no axillary brachyblasts, the young growth densely livid-granular and sometimes in addition minutely thinly strigulose or pilosulous with white hairs <0.3 mm, the leaves scarcely bicolored, dorsally either granular or resin-spotted, ventrally sublustrous, glabrous or micropuberulent, ciliolate, the capitula borne solitary or 2-3 together at bracteate (efoliate) nodes near apex of main stem and branches in shortly exserted pseudoracemes; phyllotaxy distichous. Stipules narrowly triangular or broad-subulate ±1-1.5 x 0.7-1 mm, not externally venulose, caducous. Lf- formula ix-xiii/36-50; lf-stk of longer lvs (4.5-)5.5-10 cm, the dilated petiole 3-4.5 x 1.2-2 mm, the longer interpinnal segments 4-8(-9.5) mm, the ventral groove bridged at insertion of pinnae; pinnae subequilong or decrescent near apex of lf-stk, the rachis of longer ones (2.5-)3.5-5.5 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 0.5-0.9 mm; lft-pulvinules ±0.2 x 0.3-0.45 mm; lfts equilong except at very ends of rachis, the blades linear or linear-lanceolate from auriculate base, obtuse, straight or a trifle incurved at apex, the longer ones 3-5.5 x 0.7-1.2 mm, (3.7-)4.2-6.1 times as long as wide; venation prominulous only abaxially, palmate, the simple or distally 1-2- branched midrib displaced to divide blade 1:3.2-5, the weak inner posterior primary nerve produced beyond mid-blade, the outer 1-2 much shorter. Peduncles 2-5.5 cm, ebracteate, the hemispherical receptacle 2-3.5 mm diam; capitula (5-)7-11(-12)-fld; bract of peripheral fls deltate-ovate <1 mm, deciduous, that of inner fls wanting; pedicels 0.5-0.6 x 1-1.2 mm, perceptible only in longitudinal section; perianth 4-merous, moderately carnosulous, appearing nearly glabrous, sometimes thinly minutely strigulose or remotely minutely resin-spotted (not red-granular); calyx shallowly campanulate or broadly turbinate 1.7-2 mm, faintly 4(-12)-nerved, the depressed- deltate teeth 0.3-0.4 mm; corolla 5-5.5 mm, the broadly ovate obtuse lobes 2-2.2 mm, not nerved externally; androecium 42-72-merous, 22-23 mm, the stemonozone 1-1.5 mm, the homy tube 4.5-5 mm, intrastaminal nectary 0, the tassel white rubescent. Pods 1-3 per capitulum, in profile 6.5-10 x 0.7-0.9 cm, the sutural ribs and the plane recessed valves densely minutely granular and pallid-puberulent; seeds (few seen) ±8 x 4.5 mm, the lustrous brown testa mottled, pleurogrammic.

In rocky campo, 420-1200 m, locally plentiful but known only from the n.-e. slopes and foothills of Sa. do Sincora near Lençois and Andaraí, within lat. 12°30'-13°S in interior Bahia, Brazil. — Fl. VI, IX-XI.

Calliandra lintea resembles C. bahiana in habit and leaf-formula but differs in relatively small and more numerous flowers, the perianth not red-granular. Calliandra nebulosa, disjunct on the southwestern foothills of Sa. do Sincorá, has lower leaf-formula and somewhat larger leaflets. For measurements see the Latin diagnosis. The epithet linteus (Lat., of sheets) alludes to the town of Lençois, the type-locality.

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.