Taxon Profile:

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Additional Resources:

Family:

Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Description:

Author: Scott A. Mori

Type: See description of Lecythis persistens.

Description: Flowers 3-3.5 cm diam.; androecial hood white. Fruits turbinate, ca. 2.5-3 (excluding operculum) x 2-4.5, the calycine ring inserted above middle of fruit base, the supracalycine zone poorly developed and not conspicuously erect, the pericarp 2-3 mm thick.

Common names: Guyana: kakaralli (applied to several species of Eschweilera and Lecythis), wena kakaralli, wirimiri. French Guiana: mahot blanc, weti loabi. Brazil: ripeiro vermelho.

Distribution: Lecythis persistens is known from Guyana, French Guiana, and Amapá, Brazil and, thus, mirrors the distribution of the species.

Ecology: An understory to canopy tree. This subspecies tends to be smaller than is subsp. aurantiaca.

Phenology: This subspecies blooms at the beginning of the wet season around Saül, French Guiana.

Pollination: No observations recorded but bees pollinate most other species of Lecythidaceae with this type of flower. It is not known if the vestigial anthers of the androecial hood are capable of germination but it is likely that they do not and are a reward to female bees visiting the flowers.,

Dispersal: No observations recorded. The basal area, however, suggests that bats seeking the aril for food might be the dispersers.

Field characters: Usually an understory tree but sometimes reaching the canopy. The androecial hood is white and the fruits are smaller than those of subsp. aurantiaca.

Taxonomic notes: This subspecies and subsp. aurantiaca probably should be separated into two separate species. Our first molecular study indicates that they are not even sister to one another (Mori et al., 2007). There is considerable variation in the shape and color of the flowers (see images below).

Uses: None recorded.

Etymology: See description of Lecythis persistens.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Lecythis persistens Sagot subsp. persistens: [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.