Taxon Profile:

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Additional Resources:

Family:

Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 44: 32. 1987

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Type Specimens:

Specimen 1: Isotype -- B. A. Krukoff

Description:

Author: Scott A. Mori and Ghillean T. Prance

Type: Type. Brazil. Amazonas: Mun. of Humaítá, on plateau between Rio Livramento and Rio Ipixuna, 7-18 Nov 1934 (fr), Krukoff 7183 (holotype, RB; isotypes, B, BM, K, MO, NY, U).

Description: Canopy trees, to 30 m tall. Bark gray, smooth, the outer bark less than 1 mm thick, the inner bark 7-10 mm thick, light yellow. Leaves not known to flush just before anthesis; petioles 7-15 mm long; blades elliptic, 9-22 x 5-8 cm, glabrous, without conspicuous punctae, chartaceous, the base acute, obtuse, or rounded, the margins entire, the apex acuminate; secondary veins in 9-13 pairs. Inflorescences terminal, less frequently axillary, racemose, the rachis 4.5-20 cm long, glabrous, the pedicel 12 mm long, glabrous. Flowers turn distinct bluish-green when bruised; calyx with 6 lobes, the lobes widely oblong, 12-17 x 11-14 mm, ascending, markedly imbricate, the margins slightly undulate; petals 6, white; androecim with staminal ring with filaments white, the anthers yellow, hood of androecium with double coil, yellow; hypanthium glabrous; ovary 2-locular, each locule with ca. nine basally attached ovules, the summit elevated, the style obconical, not well differentiated from summit. Fruits cup-shaped, the calycine ring always inserted above middle, the supracalycine zone erect to abruptly tapered inward, always less than 1 cm wide, the infracalycine zone obtuse to rounded to base, 2.5-5 x 4.5-7 cm (excluding operculum), the pericarp 5-8 mm thick, the outside with numerous white lenticels; operculum slightly convex, with low, rounded umbo. Seeds with lateral aril.

Common names: None recorded.

Distribution: Eschweilera laevicarpa ranges from French Guiana across central Amazonia into southwestern Amazonia.

Ecology: A canopy tree of non-flooded forest.

Phenology: Flowers have been collected in Aug and Sep in French Guiana. Fruits at varying stages of maturity have been collected throughout its range from Nov to Mar.

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

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

Predation: No observations recorded.

Field characters:
Taxonomic notes: Eschweilera laevicarpa is most similar to E. decolorans. These are the only two species of Eschweilera that show a bluish-green coloration when their flowers and fruits are bruised, a feature also found in all species of Couroupita and several species of Lecythis (Prance & Mori, 1977; Mori & Prance, 1981a). Both occur in French Guiana where we have observed them flowering at the same time and growing in similar habitats. The calyx-lobes of these species vary in the undulate margins of the French Guiana population and the non-undulate lobes of the Amazonian individuals we have seen. In addition, the fruits vary in pericarp thickness and in the position of the calycine ring.

Uses: None recorded.

Etymology: The species epithet refers to the smooth-walled fruits.

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

Acknowledgements: We thank C. M. Potascheff for allowing us to use her images to illustrate the characters of this species.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Eschweilera laevicarpa S.A.Mori: [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 laevicarpa S.A.Mori: [Article] Mori, S. A. 1987. The Lecythidaceae of a lowland Neotropical Forest: La Fumée mountain, French Guiana. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 44: 1-190.
Eschweilera laevicarpa S.A.Mori: [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.