Calliandra Species Pages

Calliandra fuscipila

Rupert C. Barneby

89.  Calliandra fuscipila Harms, Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni Veg. 17: 91. 1921. — "Brasilien: Bahia (Ph. v. Lützelburg in Herb. München, no. 245, 1914.)." — Holotypus, labeled "Minas de Contas, 1000 m, Aug. 1913," M! = K Neg. 19441 = IPA Neg. 1327; isotypus, †B = F Neg. 7242!.

C. fuscipila sensu Renvoize, 1981: 69, fig. 1(8); Lewis, 1987: 173; Stannard, 1995: 379.

Either erect or diffuse, microphyll shrubs 0.5-2 m, with fuscous defoliate glabrate older stems, the closely leafy hornotinous branches, all lf-axes, and all units of inflorescence densely beset with red-brown, granular or coralloid trichomes mixed with scattered minute white hairs to 0.2-0.3 mm, the lvs subconcolorous, the small crowded, thick-textured, minutely ciliolate lfts lustrous but either glabrous or microscopically papillate-puberulent on upper face, both reddish-granular and inconspicuously pilosulous dorsally, the few-fld capitula shortly stoutly pedunculate, commonly 2-3 together, in (1—)2—5 furthest lf-axils, nestled in foliage. Stipules obtusely deltate ±1 mm, caducous, not venulose externally. Lf-formula vii-x/15-21 ["25," protologue]; lvs subsessile, the lf-stk of longer ones 2-4.2 cm, the petiole, consisting largely of pulvinus, 1.5-2 mm, the longer interpinnal segments 2.5-5 mm, the ventral groove bridged at insertion of pinnae; pinnae abruptly shorter at apex of lf-stk, otherwise subequilong, the rachis of longer ones 14-22 mm, the longer interfoliolar segments 0.6-1 mm; lft-pulvinules 0.1-0.2 mm, a little wider than long; lfts abruptly decrescent at each end of rachis, otherwise subequiform, the blades narrowly oblong or oblong-elliptic from obtusely short-auriculate base, rounded at apex, the longer ones 2.4-3.4 x 0.9-1.3 mm, (2-)2.4-3.2 times as long as wide; venation of 2(-3) primary nerves from pulvinule bluntly prominulous on dorsal face, the straight simple midrib forwardly displaced to divide blade ±1:3, the weak posterior nerve expiring near or shortly beyond mid-blade. Peduncles 3-10 x 1.5-1.9 mm, ebracteate, the receptacle depressed- hemispherical scarcely 2 mm diam or subtruncate; bracts deltate ±1 mm, caducous; fls homomorphic, essentially sessile, the discoid pedicel not differentiated externally, ±0.3 mm in section; perianth densely reddish-granular overall, the corolla firm, thick-textured, both calyx and corolla evenulose externally; calyx shallowly campanulate 1.8-2.1 mm, the deltate teeth 0.4-0.7 mm; corolla 5.2-6 mm, the ovate, ventrally concave lobes 1-3.2 mm; androecium 50-56-merous, ±3 cm, the stemonozone 0.6-1 mm, the tube 3.3-4 mm, the tassel bright red; ovary at anthesis glabrous. Pods (Ganev 472, HUEFS) erect, in profile 5.5-6 x 1 cm, the stout sutural ribs ±4 mm wide in dorsal view, the woody valves not externally venulose, the whole fruit densely fuscous-granular.

About rock outcrops in campo rupestre, ±1350-1650 m, apparently localized on the e. and n.-e. slopes of Pico das Almas within a radius of ±25 km of Vila do rio das Contas, interior Bahia, Brazil. — Fl. II-III, VII, the full cycle not established.

Calliandra fuscipila is notable for many tiny crowded leaflets, red-granular indumentum of peduncles and capitula, a hemispherical calyx, and red filament-tassel. It somewhat resembles C. mucugeana but is taller and has more numerous and smaller crowded leaflets.

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.