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:

Fl. Bras. (Martius) 14(1): 509. 1858

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Description:

Author: Ghillean T. Prance & Scott A. Mori.

Type: Brazil. Para: Without locality, no date (st), Martius s.n. (holotype, M).

Description: Trees, to 20 m tall, the trunk not buttressed, the young branches puberulous, soon glabrous. Leaf blades ovate to oblong-ovate, 8-15 x 3.5- 8 cm, coriaceous, glabrous above, with a few sparsely distributed stellate hairs beneath; mid-rib prominulous above, prominent beneath, glabrous, secondary veins 9-17 pairs, plane to prominulous above, prominent and glabrous beneath, the tertiary venation only slightly prominulous; apex rounded, acute to shortly acuminate; base rounded to subcuneate; margins entire or weakly crenulate, slightly undulate; petiole 10-25 mm long, sparsely puberulous when young, canaliculate, not winged. Inflorescence (only one seen) terminal or axillary, raceme, to 5 cm long, the rachis dark brown tomentellous; pedicels over 7 mm long (not seen attached), dark blackish brown tomentellous. Flowers with hypanthium campanulate, ca. 4 mm long; calyx lobes broadly ovate, rounded, blackish tomentellous on both surfaces, the margins ciliate; petals oblong, 2.5-3 cm long, puberulous on exterior towards base, glabrous on upper portion and within, white at base, yellow above; androecium sparsely puberulous, purple, ca. 4 cm long, the staminal ring 12 mm in diam., the exterior of hood without sterile appendages, the stamens ca. 18-22, usually inserted in two rows, especially towards ligule. Fruits campanulate, broadest at apex, tapering to base from above middle, 7-10.5 (excluding stipe) x 3-4.5 cm broad at apex, with stipe 4-5 cm long, inserted to one side at a 45? angle; pericarp hard and woody, lenticellate on exterior, ca. 2 mm thick, the calycine ring ca. 10-20 mm below apex, marked by slightly prominent undulating ridge all around perimeter; operculum concave, with central protrusion, radially grooved, the columella triangular, ca. 6 cm long. Seeds oblong, symmetrical, 5.5. x 2 cm.

Common names: Brazil: Tauari.

Distribution: Non-flooded forests of central Amazonian Brazil.

Ecology: Non-flooded forests of central Amazonian Brazil.

Phenology: Collected in flower in May and Dec and fruit in Jul and Oct.

Pollination: No observations recorded.

Dispersal: No observations recorded.

Predation: No observations recorded.

Field characters:

Taxonomic notes: Couratari tauari is known only from a few rather widely separated collections. The type of C. duckei matches well the type of C. tauari. The latter species was described from sterile material and had not been re-collected until Ducke's collection, which was named C. duckei by Knuth. At first glance, the leaf apices of C. tauari appear more acute than those of C. duckei, but a closer examination of all the leaves of both type collections, shows that there is much variation in this character within an individual collection, and, therefore, it cannot be used to separate two species. Recent collections have enabled a more accurate description of this species which had not been reconsidered since Berg's protologue based on a single inadequate type specimen.

Uses: The inner bark is rolled and used as a cigar by natives. The Martius type collection includes samples of the bark and mentions its use as a substitute for textiles.

Etymology:

Conservation: IUCN Red List: Vulnerable D2 ver 2.3. (Pires O'Brien, J. 1998. Couratari tauari. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 05 April 2012.)

Source: Based on Mori in Mori & Prance, 1990.

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Carol A. Gracie for allowing us to use her images to illustrate the characters of this species.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Couratari tauari O.Berg: [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.
Couratari tauari O.Berg: [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.