Calliandra Species Pages
Calliandra x cumbucana
Rupert C. Barneby
98. Calliandra x cumbucana Renvoize, Kew Bull. 36: 75, fig. 3(25)p 7A. 1981. — "Brasil, Bahia . . . Serra do Sincora, Mucugé, rio Cumbuca, Harley et al. 15394." — Holotypus, CEPEC!; isotypi, K!, NY!. — Stirps forsan hybrida, inter C. calycinam et C. viscidulam quasi intermedia, priori propior.
Shrubs attaining 3 m, with habit of C. calycina, the young stems, lf-axes, and peduncles pilose with erect pallid hairs to 0.75-1.2 mm mixed with few minute reddish trichomes, the plane firm lustrous, facially glabrous lfts remotely ciliolate, the capitula solitary and 1-2 together at most elaminate but conspicuously stipulate, distal axils, forming a short simple pseudoraceme or few-branched panicle scarcely exserted from upper lvs. Stipules herbaceous, lanceolate or narrowly ovate-acuminate 5-9.5 x 1.2-3.3 mm, striately 7-11-nerved, deciduous. Lf-formula ii—iii/17—24; lf- stks 1.2-2.5 cm, the petiole 3.5-5 mm, in dorsal view 1.1-1.8 mm diam, the one interpinnal segment or the longer of two 7-12 mm; pinnae scarcely or not distally accrescent, the rachis of longer ones ±3.5-4.5 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 1.7-2.3 mm; lft- pulvinules 0.15-0.25 x 0.45-0.7 mm; lft-blades linear from deeply auriculate base, deltately subacute, straight or incipiently sigmoid, the longer ones 6.5-11 x 1.7-2.2 mm, 4.2—5 times as long as wide; midrib displaced to divide blade 1:2—3, the inner posterior nerve produced well beyond mid-blade, the whole venation bluntly prominulous on both faces. Peduncles ± 2.5 cm, ebracteate; capitula 6-9-fld, the clavate or hemispherical receptacle 1-2.5 x 2-3 mm; bract of outer fls papery brown, ovate 2.54.5 x 1.3-2 mm, several-nerved, deciduous, that of inner fls 0; pedicels drum-shaped ±1x2 mm; perianth 4-merous, thinly white-pilosulous distally, the calyx prominulously ±20-nerved, the corolla moderately camosulous, externally nerveless, minutely obscurely resinous- papillate; calyx shallowly campanulate ±3 mm, the triangular teeth 1.3 mm; corolla ±8.5 mm, the lobes 3.5 mm; androecium 90-merous, ±42 mm, the stemonozone 1.5 mm, the horny tube 7.5 mm, the tassel white rubescent; ovary not seen. Pod unknown.
In damp sandy soil of riverside, among sandstone rocks, 850 m, known from one station along rio Cum- buca ±3 km s. of Mucuge at e. foot of Sa. do Sincora, near 13°01'S, 41°21'W in interior Bahia. — Fl. II-?.
Mucugé, the source of the one known collection of C. x cumbucana, is home also to C. calycina and C. viscidula, each of which has been observed several times, in typical form, in the immediate environs of the town. The typus of C. x cumbucana has almost the foliage of C. calycina, but has features, tabulated above, that are atypical and could be derived by introgression from sympatric C. viscidula. Pending further observation, C. x cumbucana is provisionally described and listed here as a suspected hybrid.
| Contrasted characters of C. calycina, C. viscidula, and suspected hybrid C. x cumbucana. | |||
| C. calycina | C. viscidula | C. x cumbucana | |
| Stipules (mm) | 2-6.5 x 0.2-1.6 | 5-9.5 x 1.2-3.3 | 5-12 x 1.5-7 |
| Pinnae (-jug.) | i-ii | ii-iii | iii-v |
| Longer lfts (mm) | ±5-9.4 x 1.1-1.8 | ±6.5-11 x 1.7-2.2 | 11.5-20x4-6 |
| Floral bracts (mm) | Minute | 2.54.5 x 1.3-2 | 5-8.5 x 2.3-6 |
| Calyx | Smooth, 3-5 mm; teeth 0.5-2 mm | Venulose, 3 mm; teeth 1.3 mm | Venulose, 5.5-9.5 mm; teeth 2-5.5 mm |
| Corolla (mm) | 6.5-8(-9) | ±8.5 | 8-14.5 |
| Indumentum of perianth | Almost 0 | Scattered white pili with few minute reddish trichomes | Pilose and microglandular |