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Family:

Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Brittonia 65: 339. 2013

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Description:

Author: S. A. Mori

Type: Same as for the basionym Gustavia macarenensis Philipson subsp. paucisperma S. A. Mori.

Description: Leptocaulous, understory, trees, 6-12(20) m x 16-40 cm, the crown dense. Stems 3-12 mm below leaf attachments, the petioles scars never touching. Trunk cylindric to base. Bark nearly smooth, gray when dried, the outer bark thin, less than 1 mm thick, the inner bark thicker, ca. 6 mm thick, somewhat orange when dried. Leaves present at flowering; petioles slender, flattened toward base adaxially, more terete toward apex, 25-45 x 2 mm, glabrous, the margins not winged; narrowly oblanceolate to oblanceolate, 27-37 x 7-11 cm (shade leaves to 50 x 16 cm), chartaceous, glabrous, not punctate, sometimes drying with reddish tinge, the base acute to obtuse, the margins entire, the apex acuminate; venation eucamptodromous for most of length of blade, brochidodromous toward apex, the midrib prominulous adaxially, salient abaxially, the secondary veins in 14-18 pairs, 15-33 mm apart in middle of leaf blade, prominulous adaxially, prominent abaxially, the intersecondary veins absent, the teriatry veins percurrent, arched tertiaries present, the higher order venation reticulate. Inflorescences suprafoliar or axillary, sometimes appearing axillary when leaves drop, the rachis 30-110 mm long, glabrous to puberulous at maturity; pedicels to 45-70 mm long at anthesis, densely ferruginous pubescent when flowers in bud, becoming glabrous to puberulous when older, the bract caducous, not seen, the bracteoles inserted above middle, opposite one another, fused over overlapping at bases to one another (often only bract scars seen). Flowers 10.5-12 cm diam., sweet scented; hypanthium without obvious costae, densely ferruginous pubescent; calyx-lobes 4 but scarcely developed, the apices rounded, densely ferruginous pubescent in bud abaxially, a calycine rim present; petals 8, ferruginous pubescent in bud abaxially, white at anthesis; staminal tube 14-20 mm tall, pale yellow, the outermost filaments 15-20 mm long, pale yellow, the anthers ca. 3.5 mm long, yellow. Ovary 6-locular (based on number of stigmatic lines), the summit sparsely pubescent to nearly glabrous in young fruit, the style obconical, the stigma with 6 lobes. Fruits globose, somewhat truncate at apex, 4-6.5 x 7-8 diam., few seeded, the pericarp green turning reddish-brown. Seeds poorly known, globose, 4 cm diam., the seed coat, thin, less than 0.5 mm thick, fragile.

Common names: Venezuela. Mérida: pumarosa (Steyermark et al. 101558)

Distribution: Endemic to the states of Apure, Mérida, and Tachira, Venezuela. Note that the collections from Apure are from much lower elevations than those from the other two states.

Ecology: A small to medium-sized tree of premontane wet forests from 250 to 1500 meters where it grows in primary forests and as remnant trees in pasture. It is common in the forests west of Mérida. Only a few collections have been collected at elevations as low as 250 m.

Phenology: This species has been collected in flower in Mar, May, Oct, and Nov and in fruit in Feb and May.

Pollination: According to Breteler 4615, the flowers of this species have a very fine sweet smell which indicates that animals, probably bees are the pollinatiors. In other species of Gustavia buzz-pollinating species of bees have been recorded as the pollinators (Mori & Boeke, 1987).

Dispersal: As is other species of Gustavia the seeds are probably dispersed by animals which are attracted to the fruit to eat the pulp (Sork, 1987).

Predation: No observations made.

Field characters: This species can be distinguished in the field by its relatively small stature; very dense crown; oblancolate, relatively large leaves; secondary veins 15-33 mm apart apart in middle of leaf blade suprafoliar inflorescences; opposite bracteoles fused at their bases; densely ferruginous pubescence of the hypanthium; calyx rim present; white petals; and globose fruits. Dried herbarium specimens sometimes have a reddish caste to them.

Taxonomic notes: Mori in Prance and Mori (1979) treated this species as Gustavia macarensis subsp. paucisperma with which it is morpholically similar. Among other differences, G. paucisperma can be distinguished from G. macarenensis by its larger, widely spaced oblanceolate (versus smaller, closely spaced, elliptic leaves); the dense, ferruginous (versus less dense, cinereous pubescence) hypanthial pubescence; the opposite basally fused (versus not basally fused) bracteoles; rounded calyx-lobe apices (versus more triangular calyx-lobes; the presence (versus absence) of a calycine rim; and young fruits green (versus reddish).

Conservation: This species is not listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species version 2011.2. However, now that it has been segregated from G. macarenensis its threatened status should be reconsidered because it has a limited distribution in areas where forests are being replaced by pastures; however, this species can survive pastures for at least a limited period of time.

Uses: None recorded. The pulp of the fruit of other morphologically similar species (e.g., Gustavia macarenensis) is edible.

Etymology: The species epithet refers to the the relatively small number of seeds per fruit.

Source: This species is a new combination based on Gustavia macarenensis subsp. paucisperma (Mori in Prance & Mori, 1979).