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Additional Resources:

Family:

Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Pflanzenr. (Engler) IV, 219a: 134. 1939

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Description:

Author: Ghillean T. Prance & Scott A. Mori

Type: Brazil. Pará: Margin of Rio Guamá, Belém, 7 Jun 1919 (fl), Ducke RB.15900 (holotype, B, lost; lectotype, K, here designated; isolectotypes, G, IAN, P, RB, S, U, US).

Description: Trees, to 40 m tall, the trunk buttressed to 3 m, the young branches sparsely puberulous, soon glabrous. Leaves most likely flush just after or at the same time as anthesis; petioles 7-15 mm long, puberulous when young, shallowly canaliculate, not winged; blades oblong, 5-8.5 x 2.2-4.3 cm, coriaceous, glabrous or sparsely puberulous-glabrescent abaxially, the midrib puberulous or glabrous when young, the base cuneat to subcuneate, the apex retuse, rounded or bluntly acute; venation with midrib prominulous adaxially, prominent abaxially, the secondary veins in 10-12 pairs, plane adaxially, prominent abaxially, the tertiary venation plane adaxially, prominulous abaxially. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, little-branched paniculate arrangements of racemes, the rachis and rachillae minutely stellate pubescent; bracts oblong-ovate, ca. 3 mm long, caducous; pedicels 10-14 mm long, sparsely stellate puberulous. Flowers usually when leafless; hypanthium campanulate, ca. 2 mm long; calyx lobes triangular-ovate, ca. 2 mm long, sparsely puberulous on both surfaces, the margins ciliate, the apex acute; petals obovate, 1.5-2 cm long, sparsely puberulous on exterior, glabrous adaxially, pink; androecium with staminal ring ca. 8 mm diam., the stamens 10-14, inserted in single row around stylar opening, the hood ca. 2.5 cm long, the exterior rugulose, sparsely puberulous. Fruits relatively long, coniform, markedly triangular in cross section, broadest at apex, gradually tapering to base, 7-9 (excluding stipe) x 2.8-3.3 cm, with slender stipe to 2.5 cm long, the pericarp longitudinally striate, crustaceous but not lenticellate, ca. 2 mm thick, hard and woody, the calycine ring 7-10 mm below apex, almost plane, the operculum plane at apex. Seeds oblong-Ianceolate, 5.5-6.5 cm x 1.5 cm, symmetrical.

Common names: Guyana: wadara. French Guiana: inguipipa, mahot cigare. Brazil: tauari, tauari branco.

Distribution: Couratari oblongifolia ranges from Guyana through the Guianas to central and eastern Amazonian Brazil.

Ecology: This species is a canopy to emergent tree of non-flooded forest.

Phenology: Couratari oblongifolia has been collected in flower from Jun to Oct.

Pollination: No observations recorded but most likely pollinated by bees.

Dispersal: Like all species of Couratari, C. oblongifolia possesses winged seeds which are dispersed by the wind.

Predation: No observations recorded.

Field characters: Couratari oblongifolia is characterized by its canopy or emergent size; oblong leaves; flowering when leafless; conspicuous pink flowers; and relatively long fruits in comparison to other species of Couratari sect. Microcarpa.

Taxonomic notes: Couratari oblongifolia belongs to Couratari sect. Microcarpa and is related to the C. multiflora complex, but it differs in the smaller flowers with fewer stamens in a single circle, and in the much larger and more woody fruit. Material of Couratari oblongifolia has been confused with C. coriacea, a species described from an empty fruit only. Gleason and Smith (1934) distributed and discussed recent material of C. oblongifolia under the name C. coriacea. However, a comparison of the Munich type fruit of C. coriacea shows that it represents C. multiflora and not C. oblongifolia, as was suggested by Knuth (1939). The type fruit of C. coriacea is much smaller, thinner, and with a smaller calycine ring than that of C. oblongifolia. In all these features it resembles C. multiflora more than C. oblongifolia.

Conservation: IUCN Red List: Not on list.

Uses: The bark is used as a fiber and for caulking boats in Brazil.

Etymology: The species epithet refers to the oblong leaves.

Source: This description is based on Prance, G. T. 1990. Couratari. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21(II): 142-143, figs. 49b, 52. 1990 which has been updated by S. A. Mori.

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to B. Angell for allowing us to use her line drawing to illustrate the characters of this species.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Couratari oblongifolia Ducke & R.Knuth: [Article] Mori, S. A. & Prance, Ghillean T. 1990. Lecythidaceae - Part II: The zygomorphic-flowered New World genera (Couroupita, Corythophora, Bertholletia, Couratari, Eschweilera, & Lecythis). With a study of secondary xylem of Neotropical Lecythidaceae by Carl de Zeeuw. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21: 1-376.