93.  Calliandra fasciculata Bentham, J. Bot. (Hooker) 2: 140. 1840. — Typus infra sub var. fasciculata indicatur.

Microphyllidious shrubs (0.4-)l-2(-?) m with fuscous defoliate annotinous and older stems and densely foliate new ones, the erect-ascending stems paniculately few-branched distally, often glabrous except for pilosulous ventral face of lf-axes and the inflorescence often ± resinously papillate, but the new stems sometimes and the peduncles often pilose with fine white spreading hairs to 0.8-1.8 mm, the lvs bicolored, the firm narrow plane crowded lfts glossy and glabrous (exceptionally thinly strigulose) on upper face, paler dull and often minutely glandular-papillate dorsally, rarely ciliolate, the stout peduncles mostly fasciculate in upper lf-axils or by suppression of distal lvs forming a shortly exserted pseudoraceme of hemispherical few-fld capitula, the bracts and fls varying from glabrous to thinly pilose. Stipules herbaceous, when well developed resembling lfts in shape and texture, narrowly lance-oblong to linear-lanceolate and commonly 3-14 x 0.6-2.3 mm, less often subulate and only 1.5-3 mm, exceptionally dilated to ovate 6 x 3.5 mm, in any case deciduous or early caducous. Lf-formula ii—iv(—v)/( 17—)19—35; lf- stks (0.9-)1.34(-5) cm, the petiole including livid pulvinus (3-)4—12 mm, the one or the longer interfoliolar segment 6-14 mm, the narrow ventral groove bridged at insertion of pinnae; rachis of longer pinnae 4—7(-8) cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 1.4-2.8 (-3) mm, lft-pulvinules 0.2-0.45 mm, broader than long, transversely wrinkled, the lft-blades sessile against pinna-rachis; lfts subequilong except at very ends of rachis, in outline linear or linear-lanceolate from deeply auriculate base, obtuse or deltately subacute, either straight or incipiently falcate, those near mid-rachis (6-)7-12.5 x (1-)1.2-2.3 mm, (4.8-)5-8 times as long as wide; midrib simple or faintly 1-2-branched beyond middle on posterior side, displaced to divide blade ±1:2-3, the inner posterior primary nerve ascending, almost parallel to midrib, well beyond mid-blade, the 1-2 posterior ones very short or obscure, all venation not or only faintly raised on ventral face of blade, a little more prominulous beneath. Peduncles 1-5 per node, (2-)2.5-7 cm, angulate-sulcate lengthwise, ebracteate, expanded at apex into a ± hemispherical receptacle broader than long; capitula 5-8-fld, the fls homomorphic, appearing sessile or nearly so; bracts thinly herbaceous, ovate, lanceolate, or lance-acuminate (2—)2.5—15(—19) x (1.2-)1.8-4 mm, but sometimes reduced to scales <1 mm, deciduous; pedicels either turbinate, to 1 mm, or distinguished from calyx externally only by discoloration; perianth either 4- or 5-merous, either glabrous overall or thinly white-pilose (-puberulent) distally; calyx (1.2—)1.5—6.5(—12) mm, the tube (0.9-)1.5-3 x 2-3 mm, the teeth varying in length from 0.4, when depressed-deltate, to 4(-9) mm, then lanceolate and sometimes of unequal lengths; corolla 6-9 mm, the erect ovate lobes 2.3-4 mm (the sinuses often unequal), the whole varying from 3 times longer than calyx to a trifle shorter; androecium (23-)26-42 mm, 38-56(-68)-merous, the tube ±6-8 mm, the stemonozone 1.4—2.6 mm, thickened internally, the tassel opening white, rubescent; intrastaminal nectary 0. Pods 1-2 per capitulum, in profile linear-oblanceolate (4.5—)5—11 x 0.7-0.95 cm, the stout sutural ribs 2.24 mm wide in dorsal view, the stiffly coriaceous or lignescent, recessed valves either smooth or weakly ascending-venulose from either suture, reddish-brown or fuscous at maturity, either glabrous overall or thinly pilose with erect hairs, sometimes in addition microscopically resin-spotted; seeds 5-8, much subject to predation, not seen whole.

In campo cerrado, especially about outcrops, on rocky stream banks, and in rock-pockets of campo rupestre, 820-1350 m, locally plentiful in two sometimes sympatric and nearly coextensive varieties along and near the crest of Sa. do Espinhaço between latitudes 16°S and 20°S in Minas Gerais (the range of each variety more precisely indicated below). — Fl. VIII-V.

Calliandra fasciculata, endemic to upland northern and central Minas Gerais, closely resembles sympatric C. asplenioides (=C. mertensioides Bentham) in habit, and typical var.fasciculata is hardly different in inflorescence and individual flower. Bentham (1876: 420) speculated that when better known in the field the two might prove to be conspecific. The proportionately broader, scarcely auriculate and broadly obtuse leaflets of C. asplenioides that, unlike those of C. fasciculata, are, at least in the common range, resinous- punctate or -papillate dorsally, provide a reliable criterion; the only specimens of ambiguous identity that I have seen are either immature or fragmentary.

The taxonomic status of C. bracteosa, likewise questioned by Bentham (1876: 419), is more difficult to interpret. Its variably modified calyx, accompanied by enlarged floral bracts and often by similarly exaggerated stipules, are the only features that distinguish it from typical C. fasciculata, though the perianth usually bears a few, exceptionally many, long straight trichomes. The lengths of calyx-teeth and bracts are, however, poorly correlated and the perianth is sometimes almost glabrous. This random inconstancy is outbalanced by multiple resemblances in foliage and corolla, and in consequence C. bracteosa is here reduced to varietal status. The dispersal of the two varieties of C. fasciculata is peculiar. The var. fasciculata is best known from the environs of Diamantina and Serro. It is represented south of this region by only one collection each from Sas. do Cipó and Caraça, and to the northwest by one collection from Sa. do Cabral. Around Diamantina var. bracteosa is as common as var. fasciculata, and on Sa. do Cipó much more frequent; northwest from Diamantina it is known only from Grão Mogol and Montes Claros. On the crest of Sa. do Cipó C. fasciculata is sympatric with the endemic C. linearis, which has essentially the flowers of var. fasciculata but differs in dwarf stature and rhizomatous habit of growth.