Calliandra Species Pages

Calliandra hirsuticaulis

Rupert C. Barneby

99. Calliandra hirsuticaulis Harms, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 42: 203. 1908. — "Bahia: Serra do Sincorá, 1400 m (ULE n. 7312 — Nov. 1906)." — Holotypus, ^†B = F Neg. 1244 [lapsu: hirticaulis]!; isotypi, HBG!, K!.

C. hirsuticaulis sensu Renvoize, 1981: 75, fig. 2(33); Lewis, 1987: 174; Stannard 1995: 379.

Microphyllidious shrubs or subshrubs (2-)5-12(-20) dm, the erect or diffuse, simple or distally few-branched stems of the year together with lf-axes and peduncles pilose-pilosulous with fine erect straight whitish hairs to 0.6-1.7 mm mixed, at least on peduncles but often elsewhere, with reddish granular trichomes, the firm plane imbricate lfts either glabrous or minutely puberulent facially, ± lustrous on both faces, rarely papillate, randomly ciliolate, the capitula of red-stamened fls shortly pedunculate in upper lf-axils, often crowded into short-leafy pseudoracemes; phyllotaxy distichous. Stipules herbaceous, ovate or broadly lanceolate (2—)3—10.5 x 1.2-2.5 mm, mostly 6-11-nerved, commonly glabrous but sometimes pilosulous dorsally, ciliolate, deciduous. Lf-formula (ii-)iii-viii(-ix)/17-37(42); lf-stks 740 mm, the petiole including (or reduced to) pulvinus 1-3 mm, in dorsal view 0.9-1.6 mm diam, the (one or) longest interpinnal segment 3-8 mm, the ventral sulcus bridged at insertion of pinnae; pinnae subequilong or a little accrescent distally, the rachis of longer ones 2.4-5(-6) cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 0.7-1.5 mm; lft-pulvinules 0.1-0.3 x 0.3-0.6 mm; lfts decrescent at each end of rachis, otherwise subequilong, the blades linear, narrowly (lance-)oblong, or linear-lanceolate from shortly obtusely auriculate base, straight or gently porrect beyond middle, deltately acute, the longer ones (3.7-)4—8 x 0.9-2 mm, (2.7-)3-4.5(-5.1) times as long as wide; venation palmate, prominulous dorsally but only faintly so or immersed ventrally, the midrib forwardly displaced to divide blade 1:(2.5—) 3.3-4, beyond middle 1-2-branched on posterior side, the inner posterior primary nerve incurved-ascending to or beyond mid-blade, the outer 1 (-2) much shorter. Peduncles mostly <2 cm (but some lower ones attaining 3 cm), all ebracteate; capitula 5—9(—10)-fld, the floral receptacle hemispherical or subtruncate ±1-2 x1.2-2.5 mm; floral bracts resembling stipules in texture and venulation, lanceolate or narrowly ovate (2-)3-7 x 1-1.8 mm, deciduous; perianth either 5- or 4-merous, yellowish red-tinged, firm but scarcely camosulous, either silvery-pilose overall or only the teeth and lobes hirsute, the calyx- and corolla-tube glabrous, the lobes sometimes (indistinctly) granular-papillate; pedicels turbinate 0.4-1 x 1-1.6 mm; calyx campanulate or turbinate-campanulate (1.5—)3—5.5 mm, the tube faintly 5-15-nerved, the lanceolate, triangular-lanceolate or exceptionally subdeltate teeth (1.2—)1.4—3.6 mm; corolla (5.2-)5.5-7.5(-9) mm, the obovate lobes 2-3.2 mm; androecium 30-72-merous, (18—)21—31 mm, the cartilaginous stemonozone 1-1.8 mm, the pallid tube 3.5-6.5(-7) mm, the tassel blood- red; ovary at anthesis glabrous. Pods (few seen) 4—6 x 0.7-0.8 cm, the sutural keels in dorsal view ±3-4 mm wide, the recessed valves at once densely silky-pilosulous overall with erect sordid-white hairs <1 mm and reddish-granular; seeds unknown.

About arenitic outcrops in campo rupestre, 1000-1525 m, scattered across the e. slope of Chapada Diamantina in lat. 12°15V13°20'S (Seabra, Palmeiras, Lengois and Mucugé on upper rio Paraguaçú, and on upper rio de Contas near Piatã and Vila do rio de Contas), in upland interior Bahia. Fl. IX-XII.

The morphological characters, all of which or most of which together characterize C. hirsuticaulis, are the following: indumentum of fine erect hairs and at least some granular trichomes; dilated stipules and floral bracts; moderate leaf-formula of about iii-viii /17-40; peduncles seldom over 2 cm; calyx-teeth mostly longer but not much longer than the tube; and blood-red androecium. The indumentum of the perianth is denser in the upper Contas valley than northward. Renvoize (1981: 66, in key) contrasted C. hirsuticaulis with C. viscidula, but no close affinity between the pair is probable.

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.