Calliandra Species Pages

Calliandra viscidula

Rupert C. Barneby

92.  Calliandra viscidula Bentham, London J. Bot. 3: 109. 1844. — "Brazil, Serra Jacobina [Bahia], Blanchet, n. 2620." — Holotypus, K (hb. Hook., commun. Moricand)! = NY Neg. 1975!; isotypus, BM!. — Feuilleea viscidula O. Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 189. 1891.

C. viscidula sensu Bentham, 1875: 553, var. exclus.; 1876: 423; Renvoize, 1871: 74, fig. 2(10); Harley & Simmons, 1987: 115; Lewis, 1987: 177.

Robust, densely and relatively coarsely foliate shrubs 1-3 m, except for glabrous or exceptionally thinly pubescent faces of lfts softly densely pilose throughout with lustrous white, erect hairs ±0.8-2 mm, the foliage subconcolorous, the firm lfts moderately lustrous above, dull and sometimes obscurely resin-spotted beneath, ciliate, the stoutly pedunculate, well-furnished, hemispherical capitula solitary and geminate either in a few furthest lf-axils, or shortly pseudoracemose, or both. Stipules erect submembranous, ovate short-acuminate 5-12 x 2.5-7 mm, striately many-nerved from point of attachment, glabrous or thinly pilose dorsally, deciduous. Lf-formula iii-v/14—20; lf-stks (1—)1.5—7 cm, the petiole together with (or consisting largely of) dusky pulvinus 2-10 x 1.5-2.4 mm, the longer interpinnal segments 8-16 mm, the ventral groove bridged at insertion of pinnae; pinnae either subequilong or a little graduated in either direction, the rachis often recurved, that of longer pinnae 4-8.5(-10) cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 2.5-5.5 mm; lft-pulvinules 0.4-1 x 0.6-1.2 mm; lfts a little decrescent at each end of rachis, otherwise subequilong, the blade oblong or narrowly lance-oblong from broadly obtusely auriculate base, abruptly obliquely short-apiculate, the longer ones (10-)11.5-20 x 4.2-6.3 mm, 2.4-3.5 times as long as wide; primary venation of 4-6 nerves from pulvinule, the nearly straight midrib forwardly displaced to divide blade ±1:2-3, 1-3-branched at or beyond mid-blade, the innermost posterior primary nerve incurved- ascending well beyond mid-blade, the outer ones progressively shorter, the sinuous reticulum of secondary venules either prominulous on both faces or almost immersed beneath. Peduncles stout (1.5-)2-4(-6) cm, charged near middle and beyond with 1 or to 5 papery, ovate-acuminate deciduous bracts, the further ones sometimes forming an involucre under the capitulum; capitula 8-12-fld, the subsessile fls homomorphic; bracts papery, narrowly or broadly ovate-acuminate ±5-8.5 x 2.3-6 mm; pedicels stout, a little wider than long, 0.9-2 x 1.4-2.5 mm; perianth either distally or overall pilose with divergent lustrous white hairs and micro-granular, the 4-5-merous calyx obtusely striate-venulose, the 4(-5)-merous corolla scarcely so; calyx turbinate-campanulate 5.6—10(—12) mm, the lance-ovate teeth 2-5.5 x 0.8-3.7 mm; corolla 8-14.5 mm, 1.2-4.5 mm longer than calyx, the lanceolate or ovate lobes 2.8-5.3 x 1.5-3.3 mm; androecium 58-92-merous, commonly 5-7 cm but sometimes scarcely half as long, the thickened stemonozone 2.2-4 mm, the tube 7-12 mm, the tassel opening white, sometimes rubescent; intrastaminal nectary 0; ovary at anthesis glabrous. Pods 1-3 per capitulum, in profile oblanceolate 5.5-9.5 x 1-1.5 cm, the stout sutural keels ±2.5 mm wide in dorsal view, the recessed valves coarsely ascending-venulose, the whole densely softly pallid-pilose or the valves only thinly so; seeds in broad view ±8x5 mm., the testa pale brown dark- speckled, the U-shaped pleurogram ±6x2 mm.

In campo rupestre on sandstone bedrock, 850-1000 m, known by numerous collections from lower slopes of Sa. do Sincora near Palmeiras, Lençois, and Mucugé in the upper Paraguaçú basin, and by the type and five modern (to 1993) collections from campo-caatinga transition at 520 m upward on the sources of rio Itapicuru near Jacobina, within 11- 13°S in interior Bahia. — Fl. II-VI, X-XI, perhaps intermittently through the year.

Among upland Bahian species of sect. Calliandra the robust C. viscidula may be recognized by a combination of characters: ovate striate stipules 5-12 mm long; pinnae 3-5 pairs per leaf; ample leaflets to 11-20 mm long; peduncular bracts usually more than one; capitula 8—12-flowered, and lance-ovate calyx-teeth 2-5.5 mm long. Contrary to the epithet the plants are usually not viscid, though the leaflets are sometimes thinly resin-spotted dorsally.

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.