Calliandra Species Pages


Calliandra houstoniana var. houstoniana


Rupert C. Barneby

118e. Calliandra houstoniana (Miller) Standley var. houstoniana. Mimosa houstoniana Miller, Gard. Dict. ed. 8: Mimosa # 16. 1768, sens. str. — Lectoholotypus, a fruiting spm so annotated by H. Hernández, BM!; paratypi, BM (fr) = photo, NY!, BM (fl) = Acacia americana non spinosa flore purpureo e Vera Cruz, these all annotated by P. Miller. — Anonymos Houston ex Banks, Reliq. Houston, t. 26. 1781. Anneslia houstoniana Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 70. 1928, syn. omnibus inclusis. C. houstoniana subsp. houstoniana Macqueen & H. M. Hernández, 1997: 34, fig. 5, 6, map 3.

Mimosa houstoni L’Heritier, Sert. Angl. 30. 1789. — Described from plants cultivated in England, probably at Kew, in years 1786-1787. — Not found at K in 1994. —Acacia houstoni Willdenow, Sp. Pl. 4: 1062. 1805. Anneslia falcifo- lia Salisbury, Parad. Lond. 2(1); t. LXIV (titled A. grandiflora). 1807, substit. illegit. Calliandra houstoni Bentham, J. Bot. (Hooker) 2: 139. 1840; & London J. Bot. 3: 111. 1844. Acacia metrosiderifolia Schlechtendal, Linnaea 12: 567. 1838. — "[Mexico. Veracruz:] in sylvis dumetisque Jala- pae et prope Hac[ienda] de la Laguna . . . (Schiede)." — Isotypus, OXF!. — Calliandra metrosiderifolia Bentham ex Jackson, Index Kew. 1: 385. 1895.

Anneslia alamosensis Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 72. 1928. — "[Mexico.] Vicinity of Alamos, Sonora, March 14, 1910, Rose, Standley & Russell 12792." — Holotypus, NY!; isotypus, US!. — Calliandra houstoniana subsp. alamosensis Macqueen & H. M. Hem. 1997: 34.

A. etzatlana Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 73. 1928. — "[Mexico.] Near Etzatlan, Jalisco, October 2, 1903, Rose & Painter 7525." — Holotypus, NY!; isotypus, US!.

A. lucens Britton, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 194. 1928. — "Type from the vicinity of Siguatepeque, Comayagua, Honduras . . . February 14—27. 1928, [P. C.] Standley 56397." — Holotypus, NY!. — Calliandra lucens Standley, J. Arnold Arb. 11: 30. 1930.

Calliandra houstoniana subsp. stylesii Macqueen & H. M. Hernández, Kew Bull. 52: 36, fig. 7 (A-C), 1997. — "Mexico, Tabasco, 58 km west of Catazaja, Macqueen 560." — Holotypus, MEXU n.v.; isotypus, K!.

Acacia houstoni sensu Edwards, Bot. Reg. 2: tab. 78. 1816, nom. illegit., including anterior Anneslia falcifolia Salisb.

Calliandra houstoni sensu Bentham, 1875: 556.

Calliandra houstoniana sensu Standley, 1922: 386 (vernacular names and notes on use in medicine); McVaugh, 1987: 162.

Lf-formula (v-)vi-xii(-xiv)/40-65(-69); longer lf-stks 6—12(—16) cm, the longer interpinnal segments (4.5_)6-13(-20) mm; rachis of longer pinnae (4-)4.5-10(-14) cm; longer lfts (4.2—)5—10(—11) x 0.8- 1.8(-2) mm, the simple or pinnately branched midrib curved forward toward the sharply acute apex, the blade (4.2-)4.5-8(-9) times as long as wide. Inflorescence strigulose-pilosulous or pilose with at least partly, often wholly brown, bronze, or black hairs; peduncles 2—13(—16) mm; pedicels 0.7-4.5(-5) x 0.7-2.5 mm; calyx (1.7-)2-3.6(-4.5) x 2.4-5.4(-5.6) mm, the teeth (0.3-)0.5-1.6(-3) mm; corolla 7.5- 12(—13) mm; androecium 36-76(-100)-merous, (5-)5.5-7 cm, the tassel red beyond the often pallid tube. Pods in profile (6-)7-14 x (1-)1.3-2(-2.3) cm, densely pilose-velutinous with brown or black, sometimes partly or almost wholly pallid hairs.

In disturbed woodland, along highways, and in pasture thickets, ascending from near sea level into pine- and oak-forest, (0-)5-1800(-2000) m. in s.-w. Mexico sometimes sympatric with var. anomala and in Chiapas s.-ward with var. calothyrsus, locally plentiful in tropical Mexico and Central America: in Mexico s. ward from 27°N in s. Sonora and from 22°30'N in s. Tamaulipas through the Transverse Volcánic Range and interior Oaxaca and Chiapas to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. — Map 43. — Fl. VII-XII(-I).

The subsp. alamosensis was distinguished by Macqueen and Hernández by texture of corolla and persistent vesture of the pod.

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.