Taxon Details: Gustavia fosteri S.A.Mori
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Protologue of Gustavia fosteri
Protologue of Gustavia fosteriFamily:
Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)
Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)
Scientific Name:
Gustavia fosteri S.A.Mori
Gustavia fosteri S.A.Mori
Primary Citation:
Brittonia 30: 340. 1978
Brittonia 30: 340. 1978
Accepted Name:
This name is currently accepted.
This name is currently accepted.
Description:
Author: Scott A. Mori
Type: Panama. Canal Zone: Barro Colorado Island, 18 Jun 1974 (fl), Foster 2790 (holotype, MO; isotype, F).
Description: Trees to 5 m tall; leaves arranged in densely crowded verticils of 10-11, the leaf-bearing branches 9 mm diam. Leaves: petioles 5-23 mm long; blades oblanceolate to spathulate, glabrous, 26-72 x 5-10 cm, the base acute, the margins serrate towards apex, the apex acuminate to acute; secondary veins in 21-31 pairs. Inflorescences terminal or rarely cauline, racemose, with up to 13 flowers, the rachis 55-65 mm long; pedicels 60-80 mm long, puberulous, subtended by a caducous bract 8-12 x 5-7 mm and bearing above middle 2 ovate bracteoles 7-11 x 5-8 mm. Flowers 13-17 cm diam.; calyx of 4 broadly triangular lobes 4 x 14 mm; petals 8, pale pink, obovate to oblanceolate, 55-65 x 20-25 mm; androecial base 11-12 mm high, the outermost filament 18-19 mm long, white at base and dark pink towards apex, the anthers 2.5-3 mm long, yellow; ovary puberulous on exterior, white-pubescent on summit, 5-6-locular, with 20-30 ovules in each locule, the style conical, 3 mm long. Fruits globose, 45 x 45 mm, the mesocarp white. Seeds 5 per fruit, 30-35 x 22-24 mm, white; funicle/aril short.
Common names: None recorded
Distribution: A small understory tree of moist forest known only from several individuals near the junction of the the Synder-Molino and Wheeler Trails on Barro Colorado Island, Panama.
Ecology: An understory tree of moist forests.
Phenology: A flowering collection has been made in June and a fruiting collection in September. Based on these few records it appears that this species flowers in the wet season and fruit reaches maturity from the middle toward the end of the wet season. This phenology differs from that of G. superba which flowers in the dry season into the early wet season and matures fruit in the early wet season.
Pollination: No observations recorded but most likely pollinated by buzz-pollinating bees because the anthers open by a terminal pore.
Dispersal: No observations recorded but probably similar to that described for G. superba.
Predation: No observations recorded.
Field characters: See taxonomic notes.
Taxonomic notes: This species has been confused with the abundant Gustavia superba from which it differs in the 1) leaves grouped in several verticels at the branch ends instead of scattered along the ends of the branches; 2) mostly terminal instead of cauline inflorescences; 3) calyces with four broadly triangular lobes instead of without lobes; 4) petals light pink throughout instead of white with flushes of pink; 5) opercular region nearly as wide as the fruit diameter instead of much constricted and narrower than the fruit diameter; and 6) white instead of orange mesocarp at maturity.
Conservation: IUCN List: Vulnerable C2a ver 2.3 (Mitré, M. 1998. Gustavia fosteri. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 17 March 2014.).
Uses: None recorded
Etymology: The species epithet honors R. Foster specialist in the systematics and ecology of the Neotropical flora and well known for his guides for the identification of plants of the Neotropics. These can be seen at the Web site of the Field Museum of Natural History.
Source: This species page is based on Mori in Prance & Mori, 1979.
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to R. Foster for allowing us to use his images to illustrate the characters of this species.
Author: Scott A. Mori
Type: Panama. Canal Zone: Barro Colorado Island, 18 Jun 1974 (fl), Foster 2790 (holotype, MO; isotype, F).
Description: Trees to 5 m tall; leaves arranged in densely crowded verticils of 10-11, the leaf-bearing branches 9 mm diam. Leaves: petioles 5-23 mm long; blades oblanceolate to spathulate, glabrous, 26-72 x 5-10 cm, the base acute, the margins serrate towards apex, the apex acuminate to acute; secondary veins in 21-31 pairs. Inflorescences terminal or rarely cauline, racemose, with up to 13 flowers, the rachis 55-65 mm long; pedicels 60-80 mm long, puberulous, subtended by a caducous bract 8-12 x 5-7 mm and bearing above middle 2 ovate bracteoles 7-11 x 5-8 mm. Flowers 13-17 cm diam.; calyx of 4 broadly triangular lobes 4 x 14 mm; petals 8, pale pink, obovate to oblanceolate, 55-65 x 20-25 mm; androecial base 11-12 mm high, the outermost filament 18-19 mm long, white at base and dark pink towards apex, the anthers 2.5-3 mm long, yellow; ovary puberulous on exterior, white-pubescent on summit, 5-6-locular, with 20-30 ovules in each locule, the style conical, 3 mm long. Fruits globose, 45 x 45 mm, the mesocarp white. Seeds 5 per fruit, 30-35 x 22-24 mm, white; funicle/aril short.
Common names: None recorded
Distribution: A small understory tree of moist forest known only from several individuals near the junction of the the Synder-Molino and Wheeler Trails on Barro Colorado Island, Panama.
Ecology: An understory tree of moist forests.
Phenology: A flowering collection has been made in June and a fruiting collection in September. Based on these few records it appears that this species flowers in the wet season and fruit reaches maturity from the middle toward the end of the wet season. This phenology differs from that of G. superba which flowers in the dry season into the early wet season and matures fruit in the early wet season.
Pollination: No observations recorded but most likely pollinated by buzz-pollinating bees because the anthers open by a terminal pore.
Dispersal: No observations recorded but probably similar to that described for G. superba.
Predation: No observations recorded.
Field characters: See taxonomic notes.
Taxonomic notes: This species has been confused with the abundant Gustavia superba from which it differs in the 1) leaves grouped in several verticels at the branch ends instead of scattered along the ends of the branches; 2) mostly terminal instead of cauline inflorescences; 3) calyces with four broadly triangular lobes instead of without lobes; 4) petals light pink throughout instead of white with flushes of pink; 5) opercular region nearly as wide as the fruit diameter instead of much constricted and narrower than the fruit diameter; and 6) white instead of orange mesocarp at maturity.
Conservation: IUCN List: Vulnerable C2a ver 2.3 (Mitré, M. 1998. Gustavia fosteri. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 17 March 2014.).
Uses: None recorded
Etymology: The species epithet honors R. Foster specialist in the systematics and ecology of the Neotropical flora and well known for his guides for the identification of plants of the Neotropics. These can be seen at the Web site of the Field Museum of Natural History.
Source: This species page is based on Mori in Prance & Mori, 1979.
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to R. Foster for allowing us to use his images to illustrate the characters of this species.
Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):
Gustavia fosteri S.A.Mori: [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.
Gustavia fosteri S.A.Mori: [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.