Taxon Profile:

	The Plant List
	International Plant Name Index
	Tropicos
	Catalogue of Life
	Global Biodiversity Information Facility
	JSTOR Types
	JSTOR
	BHL
	Encyclopedia of Life
	WikiSpecies
	Google Scholar
	PubMed
	Morphbank
	IUCN
	National Center for Biotechnology Information
	Barcode of Life

Additional Resources:

Family:

Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Kew Bull. 10: 473. 1955

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Type Specimens:

Specimen 1: Type -- G. S. Jenman

Description:

Author: Ghillean T. Prance

Type: Guyana. Demerara River, nr. Great Falls, Mar 1898 (fl), enman 7311(holotype, K; isotypes, F, IAN, NY, S, U, S).

Description: Trees, to 12 m tall, usually smaller, rarely larger, unbuttressed or with low buttresses only, the young branches minutely puberulous or glabrous. Leaf blades elliptic to obovate-elliptic, 3.5-8 x 2.5-5 cm, coriaceous, glabrous on both surfaces, often papillose beneath; midrib prominulous above, prominent and glabrous beneath; secondary veins 7-12 pairs, prominulous on both surfaces, the tertiary venation distinctly prominulous on both surfaces; apex bluntly acute to acuminate; base rounded to cuneate; margins undulate, almost entire or slightly crenulate; petiole 2-9 mm long, glabrous, terete, not winged. Inflorescences of rather lax terminal panicles or racemes, the rachis sparsely puberulous; bracts oblong, ca. 4 mm long, caducous, sparsely puberulous on exterior, with ciliate margins; pedicels 23-50 mm long, puberulous. Flowers with hypanthium campanulate, 3-5 mm long, calyx lobes rounded-triangular, puberulous on exterior, with ciliate margins; petals oblong-spathulate, 22-35 mm long, sparsely puberulous on exterior, glabrous within, ciliate on margins, rose to red; androecium 3.5-5 cm long when opened up, the staminal ring 10-13 mm diam., the exterior of hood pustulate-rugulose, glabrous, the stamens 35-50, inserted in more than one row around staminal ring, extending slightly up interior of ligule in several rows. Fruits campanulate, 2.9-4.5 (excluding stipe) x 2.2-3 cm, with thin stipe 1.6-2.5 cm long, longitudinally striate on exterior, smooth, not crustaceous, ca. 0.5-1 mm thick, the calycine ring 4-6 mm below apex, plane, not ridged; operculum convex or concave, radially grooved, the columella markedly triangular.

Common names: Guyana: kakaralli (Arawak), wadara.

Distribution: Restricted to Guyana.

Ecology: It grows on river margins in low flooded areas.

Phenology: Collected in flower from Dec to Jul.

Pollination: No reports of pollination have been recorded.

Dispersal: It is presumed that the seeds are wind dispersed as found in other species of the genus.

Predation: No observations recorded.

Field characters:

Taxonomic notes: For a discussion of the relationships of this species, see under the Couratari multiflora superspecies in Prance in Mori & Prance (1990).

Conservation: IUCN Red List: Not on list.

Uses: The inner bark is used in making ropes and headstraps in Guyana.

Etymology: The name "riparia" means of riverbanks and refers to the habitat where this species grows.

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

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Couratari riparia Sandwith: [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.