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Additional Resources:

Family:

Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Amer. J. Bot. 26(6): 407. 1939

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Type Specimens:

Specimen 1: Holotype -- T. A. W. Davis

Description:

Author: Scott A. Mori and Ghillean T. Prance

Type: Guyana. Demerara River, Kumuparu Creek, 11 Nov 1937 (fl, empty fr), Davis D541 (Forest Dept. British Guiana 2564) (holotypes, NY; isotypes, K-2 sheets and fruits, photo fruit NY).

Description: Trees, 20-30 m x 15-70 cm. Bark thin, scalloped, the slash pink. Leaf-bearing twigs 3-4 mm thick below lowermost leaf, narrowly but distinctly winged, the wings run in zig-zag manner from one petiole base to another. Leaves not known to flush just before flowering; petioles 7-12 mm long; blades elliptic, oblong or narrowly ovate, 15-27 x 5-10 cm, glabrous, without distinctive abaxial punctations, chartaceous, the base obtuse to rounded, the margins entire to crenulate, the apex acuminate; secondary veins in 9-12 pairs. Inflorescences racemose, unbranched, terminal or axillary, the rachis 3-15 cm long, somewhat zigzagged; pedicel 3-20 mm long. Flowers ca. 4-5 cm diam.; calyx with 6 lobes, the lobes very widely ovate, 4-6 x 4-7 mm, imbricate ca. ½ length, green or green flushed with red or purple; petals 6, obovate, 20-25 x 15-25 mm, white, sometimes flushed with rose, red, or purple on outside; androecium with staminal ring filaments 1.3-2.5 mm long, clavate, cream-colored, the anthers ca. 0.7 mm long, yellowish-orange, hood with double coil, yellow to yellowish-orange; ovary 2-locular. Fruits ca. 2-3 x 3-5 cm, the supracalycine zone erect, the calycine ring inserted below middle, the infracalycine zone truncate, the pedicel persisting as woody knob. Seeds unknown.

Common names: Guyana: guava-skin kakaralli in reference to the scalloped bark which is somewhat similar to the guava (Psidium guayava).

Distribution: Eschweilera alata is known only from west Venezuela, Guyana and French Guiana from 50 to 600 m alt.

Ecology: In Guyana, this species is commonly found in non-flooded forest dominated by Mora gonggrijpii.

Phenology: This species has been collected in flower in the dry season in Oct and Nov.

Pollination: No reports of pollination have been recorded.

Dispersal: No reports of dispersal have been recorded.

Predation: No observations recorded.

Field characters: This species is easily recognized in the field by its scalloped bark and narrowly winged stems.

Taxonomic notes: Eschweilera alata differs from all other species of Lecythidaceae by its narrowly but distinctly winged stems stems of seedlings are also markedly winged. The fruits are very much like those of E. coriacea.

Conservation: IUCN Red List: Not on list.

Uses: None recorded.

Etymology: The specific habitat refers to the winged stems.

Source: This species page is based on Mori in Mori & Prance, 1990.

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to C. A. Gracie, P. M. J. Maas, and M.-F. Prévost for allowing us to use their images to illustrate the characters of this species.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Eschweilera alata A.C.Sm.: [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.