Narratives – The Barneby Catalogue

Calliandra Species Pages

Calliandra calycina

97. Calliandra calycina Bentham, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 30: 549. 1875; & in Martius, Fl. bras. 15(2): 419. 1876. — "... in Serra da Jacobina provinciae Bahiensis: Blanchet, n. 3683." — No holotypus found at K in 1994; isotypi, BM!, BR! = K Neg. 19426, G = K Neg. 19435, 6, 7!, GH (fragm.)!. — Feuilleea calycina O. Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 187. 1891.

C. jacobiana Renvoize, Kew Bull. 36: 82, fig. 4(39), 8A. 1981. — "Bahia. Serra do Jacobina, Estiva, Harley & al 16540." — Holotypus, CEPEC!; isotypi, K!, NY!.

C. angusta Renvoize, Kew Bull. 36: 82, fig. 3(36), 6B, C. 1981. — "Bahia. Serra do Sincorá, Mucugé, rio Cumbuca, Harley & al. 15937." — Holotypus, CEPEC!; isotypus, K!.

C. robusta Renvoize, Kew Bull. 36: 82, fig. 4(37), 8D. 1981. — "Bahia . . . Serra do Curral Feio, Lagoinha to Minas do Mimoso, Harley et al. 16971." — Holotypus, CEPEC!; isotypus, K!.

C. calycina sensu Renvoize, 1981: 63, fig. 4(39); Lewis 1987: 171.

C. jacobiana sensu Lewis, 1987: 174.

C. angusta sensu Harley & Simmons, 1986: 114; Lewis, 1987: 170.

C. robusta sensu Lewis, 1987: 176.Stiffly erect shrubs 0.6-2(-3) m with fuscous defoliate annotinous and older branches, the hornotinous ones clad in crowded, narrowly ascending, upwardly imbricate lvs, the new stems and at least the ventral face of lf-axes puberulent or pilosulous with fine, subappressed-ascending or widely spreading white hairs to 0.2-0.8 mm, the lvs bicolored, the glabrous or glabrous microscopically ciliolate lfts lustrous olivaceous above, paler and minutely resin-spotted beneath, the few-fld capitula solitary or paired either in a few furthest lf-axils or by reduction of furthest lvs forming a shortly exserted pseudoraceme. Stipules erect, thin-textured, linear or linear-subulate (1.5-)2-6.5 x 0.2-1.6 mm, 1-3-nerved, caducous. Lf-formula i-ii/15-30(-36), the pinnae of some lvs almost always 2- jugate; lf-stks, including discolored pulvinus, either 1.5-3 mm, or when pinnae are 2-jugate to 8(-9) mm, at middle 0.9-1.3 mm diam; rachis of longer pinnae 2.5-5 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 0.8-1.5 mm; lft-pulvinules 0.15-0.3 x 0.45-0.65 mm; lfts decrescent at each end of rachis, otherwise subequilong, the blades linear from auriculate base, deltately acute-apiculate, straight or incipiently sigmoid, the longer ones 5-9.5 x 1.1-1.8 mm, 3.9-6.6 times as long as wide; midrib forwardly displaced to divide blade 1:2-4, weakly few-branched, the inner posterior primary nerve produced nearly to blade’s apex but sometimes barely perceptible, the outer posterior one very short or obscure, a weak random secondary venulation sometimes expressed on upper face. Peduncles stout 12-33 mm, ebracteate; capitula 3-7-fld, the receptacle ±1-1.5 mm diam; floral bracts minute fugacious, absent from some fls; fls appearing sessile, either 4- or 5-merous, homomorphic, the perianth commonly glabrous but the calyx-teeth sometimes ciliolate and the corolla sometimes thinly appressed- pilosulous above middle; pedicels (differentiated externally by darker color) discoid or broadly turbinate 0.4-1.2 x 0.8-2.5(-4) mm; calyx 2.2-5 x (2.2-)3-5 mm, faintly 5-nerved, the depressed-deltate or semicircular teeth 0.5-1.8(-2.2) mm; corolla 6.5-8(-9) mm, the ovate lobes 1.5-4.5 x 2.4—4 mm; androecium 62-92-merous, 24-42 mm, the stemonozone 1.6-2.2 mm, corneously thickened internally, the tube 7-9 mm, the tassel white rubescent; ovary subsessile, at anthesis pilosulous, especially above middle. Pods erect, 4.5-7.5 x 1-1.3 cm, 5-6-seeded, densely pilose- tomentulose overall with erect pallid hairs, the coarse sutural keels 5-6 mm wide in dorsal view, the deeply recessed valves lignescent; seeds 6.5-10 x 4—5 mm, the smooth testa mottled, the pleurogram ± half as broad as the seed-face.

In campo rupestre sometimes transitional to campo cerrado or caatinga, (500-)800-l 100 m, locally plentiful along and e. of the crest of Chapada Diamantina, from Sas. do Curral Feio and da Jacobina s. through Sa. do Tombador to Lençois and Mucugé in lat. 10°20'-13°S. — Fl. XI-II.

Calliandra calycina has nearly the leaf-formula of C. asplenioides except that the pinnae are not more than two pairs; they have similarly short petioles and the individual flowers are similarly proportioned. The leaves of C. calycina are usually more crowded along the stem and the leaflets are much narrower (1.1-1.8, not 2-4.5, mm wide) and more crowded along the pinna-rachis.

I have not found reliable diagnostic features to confirm the segregate C. jacobiana, C. angusta, and C. robusta, which are treated herein as minor variants without taxonomic status. Renvoize (1981) in his key to Bahian Calliandra distinguished C. jacobina from C. calycina (sens. str.), both of which were described from Sa. da Jacobina, by color of the filaments: known to be white rubescent in C. jacobiana, and supposed to be red in C. calycina. Neither Blanchet nor Bentham described the filaments of the latter as red, and Blanchet’s specimens, now more than a century old, tell nothing certain of flower-color. Calliandra angusta was separated from C. jacobiana by greater stature (1.75-2, not 7.5, m) and smaller flowers (corolla 6, not 10, mm long); but specimens subsequently identified by Renvoize himself (Lewis 853, NY) are described in fleld-notes as 6-10 dm tall, while the corolla in the type-region of C. angusta varies from about 6 mm to 8.5 mm in length. The leaflets of the type-collection of C. calycina are slightly more numerous than those of C. jacobina, but the plants are otherwise extremely similar. Calliandra robusta has calyces proportionately longer as compared to the corolla, but is otherwise compatible with C. calycina.

A unicate specimen (Harley 16971A, K!) collected with the typus of C. robusta (Harley 16971) and in the same locality as that of C. bahiana (Harley 16985) may provide evidence of introgression between these sympatric species. The obese perianth and filament-number (±124) are reminiscent of C. bahiana, whereas the smooth perianth and upwardly imbricate leaves suggest C. calycina. The leaf-formula (iii/30) is intermediate, but the leaflets are more like those of C. calycina in other respects.

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.