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Family:

Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Iter Hispanicum 189. 1758

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Description:

Description: Understorey, canopy, or emergent trees. Leaves scattered along branches, small to medium, less frequently large-sized (2.5-40 cm long), glabrous; secondary venation reticulate. Inflorescences ramiflorous, terminal, or axillary, racemose or spicate or once-branched paniculate arrangements of racemes or spikes, growth of rachises determinate. Flowers present with leaves but sometimes flowering as leaves flush (e.g., L. pisonis and L. poiteaui) depending on species, zygomorphic; sepals 6; petals 6, flat at apices; staminal lip present; androecial hood variable (flat with vestigial stamens [L. idatimon-type]; flat with staminodes over all of hood [L. persistens subsp. persistens-type]; flat with staminodes restrcted to proximal part of hood [L. pisonis-type]; flat, thickened, with vestigial stamens short [L. corrugata-type], with vestigial stamens swept inward but not forming coil [Bertholletia-type], with hood coiled inward but not forming second coil and vestigial anthers all the same [L. ollaria-type]); staminal lip present; stamens not reflexed, the anthers laterally dehiscent; ovary (3)4(6)-locular, ovules 2-30 in each locule, attached to lower part of septum, the style often obliquely oriented or geniculate, the stylar collar absent. Fruit dehiscent or less frequently indehiscent (e.g., L. lurida and L. prancei), remaining on tree or dropping to ground at maturity, generally globose, the pericarp thick. Seeds not winged, one to numerous, not flattened, not embedded in pulp (i.e., seeds easily removed from pulp), often fusiform or at least longer than broad, the testa glabrous; cotyledons absent; embryo macropodial.

Distribution: From Nicaragua into the Andean valleys and Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador, throughout Amazonia and the Guianas, and the Atlantica coastal forest of Brazil. Species diversity of Lecythis is greatest from the central Brazilian Amazon to the Guianas and eastern Brazilian Amazonia. SW Amazonia has relatively few known species.

Ecology: Most diverse in lowland terra firme forests but also found in flooded forests along rivers and savannas, but not in high diversity.

Number of species: There are 26 known species, but if the genera are circumscribed differently Lecythis sensu stricto will consist of only three species.

Taxonomic notes: There is far greater morphological diversity within the currently circumscribed Lecythis than in any other genus of Lecythidaceae. For example, there are six different androecial types in the genus and the most recent molecular analysis suggests at least five separate clades (Mori et al., 2007). Some of these clades correspond to sections of the genus recognized by Mori (Mori & Prance, 1990). Lecythis, as currently circumscribed, is most likely not monophylletic; thus, generic realignments are to be expected in the future.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Lecythis Loefl.: [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.
Lecythis Loefl.: [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.
Lecythis Loefl.: [Article] Prance, Ghillean T. & Mori, S. A. 1979. Lecythidaceae - Part I. The actinomorphic-flowered New World Lecythidaceae (Asteranthos, Gustavia, Grias, Allantoma & Cariniana). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21: 1-270.
Lecythis Loefl.: [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.
Lecythis Loefl.: [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.