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Additional Resources:

Family:

Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Trans. Linn. Soc. London 30: 260. 1874

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Description:

Author: Scott A. Mori and Ghillean T. Prance

Type: Guyana. Without locality, 1840 (fl), Schomburgk 865 (lectotype, NY, designated Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21(II). 1990; isolectotypes, BM, CGE, F, GH, K-2 sheets, U, US).

Description: Small to medium-sized canopy trees, to 30 m tall, usually unbuttressed, sometimes slightly fluted towards base. Bark gray to dark brown, irregularly scalloped. Leaves not known to flush just before anthesis; petioles 5-9 mm long; blades elliptic, infrequently narrowly ovate, 10-21 x 4-7 cm, glabrous, sometimes with inconspicuous abaxial punctations, chartaceous; the base acute, obtuse, or rounded, the margins entire, the apex acuminate; secondary veins in 9-12 pairs. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, usually once-branched paniculate arrangement of racemes, the principal rachis 3-23 em long, glabrous to puberulous, the pedicels 6-10 mm long, usually puberulous. Flowers 1.5-2.5 cm diam.; calyx with 6 lobes, the lobes widely ovate, 1.5-3 x 1.4-2.5 mm, spreading to ascending, usually not imbricate, thick, convex to carinate abaxially, flat to concave adaxially; petals 6, widely obovate, 8-15 x 6-12 mm, usually white, infrequently yellow; androecium with staminal ring asymmetric, with 110-175 stamens, the filaments 1-2 mm long, wite, the anthers 0.3-0.5 mm long, the hood of 5-12 x 5-10 mm, with double coil, often with distinct groove on marginal, exterior, anterior surface, light yellow ; hypanthium tapered into well-defined pedicel; ovary 2-locular, each with 3-5 basally attached ovules, the style obconical, erect or oblique, not well differentiated from summit, 0.7-2 mm long. Fruits cup-shaped, the calycine ring inserted above middle, the infracalycine zone rounded to pedicel, 2-3 x 4-5 cm (excluding operculum and pedicel), the pedicel often persisting as woody knob. the pericarp 3-5 mm thick, often penetrated by mucilage-bearing ducts, the exterior nearly smooth to rough and lenticellate, the operculum convex. Seeds with lateral aril, 2 x 1.2 cm.

Common names: Venezuela: coco de mono (a name applied to various species of Lecythidaceae). Guyana: kakaralli (a name applied to several species of Eschweilera). French Guiana: mahot blanc, mahot noir, weti loabi (Paramaka language). Brazil: ripeiro.

Distribution: This species occurs in the Guianas and Central Amazonian Brazil.

Ecology: Eschwelera micrantha is a small to medium-sized tree usually of non-flooded forest.

Phenology: This species flowers mostly from Jul to Dec.

Pollination: The following description of pollination in Eschweilera micrantha was taken from Mori and Boeke (1987) made in central French Guiana. Some individuals of this species have yellow pollen in the staminal ring anthers, whereas that of other individuals is black. We have not been able to correlate other differences with this, and therefore, feel that this color difference represents intra populational variation. Observations were made in a tree with black pollen (Mori & Boom I5174) and in one with yellow pollen (tree 53, Boom & Mori 2460). The most frequent visitor to the flowers of the tree with black pollen was Trigona capitata, which landed with its ventral surface on the hood but then turned to face the staminal ring to collect pollen from it. Fertile pollen was deposited on the ventral thorax of the bee (Fig. XII-4). >Paratetrapedia> sp. 2 visits the flowers less frequently. This species enters the androecium with its ventral surface on the hood and stays that way while it extracts nectar produced at the apex of the double coil of the androecium. In this case fertile pollen is deposited on the head and dorsal thorax of the bee. No larger bees were seen in this abundantly flowering tree during 4 hours and 45 minutes of observation on the morning of 6 Nov 1982. In the individual with yellow pollen, small bees were also the most common visitors. Paratetrapedia sp. 1 was caught after it had turned to collect pollen from the staminal ring in the same fashion described above for Trigona capitata. In contrast, Paratetrapedia sp. 3 entered the flower and remained with its ventral surface towards the androecial hood, presumably to collect nectar. Other small bees, possibly Trigona capitata, also visited flowers to collect pollen from the staminal ring. In addition, several medium-sized bees entered flowers with their ventral surfaces towards the androecial hood. They were probably after nectar in the manner typical for the visits of most larger bees to species of Eschweilera.

Dispersal: No observations recorded but the lateral aril may be eaten by animals.

Predation: No observations recorded.

Field characters: Eschweilera micrantha is characterized by its scalloped bark; small flowers with white petals and yellow androecial hoods; and cup-shaped fruits.

Taxonomic notes: Eschweilera micrantha is morphologically similar to E. sagotiana but the latter has more robust flowers and a thicker and shorter pedicel. The species limites of the small-flowered species of Eschweilera, such as E. micrantha, have not been adequately described so this species page is based on the features of the species as it occurs in the Guianas because the type is from Guiana. Especially confusing is the differences among E. micrantha and E. apiculata.

Uses: None recorded.

Etymology: The specific epithet refers to the small flowers of this species.

Conservation: IUCN Red List: not on list (IUCN, 2012).

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

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to C. Gracie for allowing us to use her images to illustrate the characters of this species.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Eschweilera micrantha (O.Berg) Miers: [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.
Eschweilera micrantha (O.Berg) Miers: [Article] Mori, S. A. & Lepsch da Cunha, Nadia M. 1995. The Lecythidaceae of a central Amazonian moist forest. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 75: 1-55.