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Additional Resources:

Family:

Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Trans. Linn. Soc. London 30: 266. 1874

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Description:

Author: Scott A. Mori & Nathan P. Smith

Type: Brazil. Amazonas: Secus Rio Negro, inter Barra [Manaus] et Barcellos, Nov 1851 (fl), R. Spruce 2031 (isolectotype, NY).

Description: Small trees, to 15 m tall, often with spreading crown, unbuttressed. Bark grayish, with shallow longitudinal fissures, flaking longitudinally, slash brown. Leaf blades elliptic to oblong lanceolate, 6-26 x 2.5-8.0 cm, glabrous, chartaceous; apex acute to acuminate; base rounded to subcuneate; the midrib prominulous above, prominent beneath, often slightly flattened and longitudinally striate when dry, with 8-18 pairs of lateral veins, these slightly prominulous on both surfaces; margins usually weakly crenate or only slightly uneven; petiole 5-12 mm long, often slightly winged near base of blade, terete. Inflorescences racemose, the rachis rather tortuous (zigzag), sparsely puberulous, lenticellate, to 8 cm long, the pedicels jointed, puberulous, ca. 1-2.5 mm long above joint. Flowers 3.5-5 cm diam.; calyx with six lobes, the lobes triangular, ca. 3 x 4 mm, oriented nearly horizontally, clearly imbricate, concave adaxially; petals six, unequal, widely obovate, cream or pale yellow, 20-32 x 18-23 mm; hood of androecium yellow, 18-22 x 20- 25 mm, doubly coiled, the second coil short, terminating in short appendages, the hood appendages bright yellow; staminal ring asymmetric, with over 300 stamens in 8-12 rows, the filaments clavate, white, 1-1.5 mm long, the anthers yellow, ca. 0.5 mm long; ovary 2-locular, each locule with numerous basally attached ovules, the summit of ovary umbonate, 1.5-2 mm high, the style not well differentiated from summit, ca. 1 mm long. Fruits depressed globose, the calycine ring inserted 3-12 mm below opercular opening, with distinct calyx scars, the pericarp 2-5 mm thick, the lower portion often with distinct, large lenticels on exterior; operculum convex, umbonate or not umbonate, 15-22 mm high, always shorter than or equal to the length of the fruit base. Seeds 15-35, densely packed, wedge-shaped, with broadest part of wedge above middle, tapering towards base, markedly angular, varying from triangular to hexagonal, but most frequently pentagonal in cross section, 2.8- 5 cm long, surrounded completely by aril; germination lateral, the seedling emerging from opposite sides of center of flattened sides of seed.

Common names: Brazil. Macacarecuia ( = monkey's bailing cup).

Distribution: This species occurs along the Amazon, Negro, Solimões, and Orinoco rivers.

Ecology: A common species of seasonally flooded forests and the Orinoco and Rio Negro and from.

Phenology: Peak flowering occurs from Nov through Mar.

Pollination: No reports of pollination have been recorded but the yellow flower color suggests bees as pollinators.

Dispersal: The seeds of this species fall into the water when the operculum dehisces and remain buoyant for at least four months (Prance, laboratory test).

Predation: The fruits are often attacked by rats which chew open the immature pyxidia and eat the unripe seeds. The uacari monkey (Cacajao melanocephalus ouakary feeds on the seedlings of Eschweilera tenuifolia in the dry season in the Jau National Park (Barnett et al. 2012).

Field characters: This species can be recognized by the habitat it occurs in (igapó or black water flooded forest), small size, androecium with a double coilded hood and over 300 stamens, depressed globose fruits, and wedge-shaped seeds without an aril.

Taxonomic notes: The name most commonly used for this species, Jugastrum coriaceum (DC.) Miers, cannot be maintained because it is based on Lecythis coriacea DC., a name that applies to an entirely different species of Eschweilera (=E. coriacea (DC.) Martius ex Berg). When Berg transferred L. coriacea to Eschweilera he emended the description to include the fruits of a Martius collection which were not seen by de Candolle. These fruits are typical of E. tenuifolia and therefore Berg's concept of Eschweilera coriacea includes the leaves of E. coriacea as well as the fruits of E. tenuifolia. Consequently, one of the other names for this species used by Berg (1858) must be applied and we have chosen E. tenuifolia based on Lecythis tenuifolia Berg. The five species of Jugastrum described by Miers were based on fruit characters. Two of his species were known from fruits alone. Recent collections have shown that there is much variation in fruit size and shape even within individuals. For example, Jugastrum depressum was based on a juvenile pyxidium. We now consider all individuals with distinctly angular, wedge-shaped seeds that are completely surrounded by an aril as belonging to E. tenuifolia. There is considerable variation in leaf shape with a tendency to longer, narrower, and more oblong leaves in the vicinity of Manaus. Similarly there is a tendency to a more triangular leaf in the upper Rio Negro region. Nevertheless, in both regions the more typical elliptic leaves also occur. Leaf variation is so poorly correlated with other characters and geography that we have not recognized it taxonomically. Flower structure is quite uniform throughout this species. The large number of ring stamens which extend well up the ligule is the most noteworthy floral characteristic.

Conservation: IUCN Red List: Not on list.

Uses: The seeds of this species are eaten by two species of fish commonly consumed by humans, the matrinxã (Brycon sp.) and the tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) (Alencar Maia, 2008).

Etymology: The species epithet refers to the texture of the leaves.

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

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to C. Gracie and C. M. Potascheff for allowing us to use their images to illustrate the characters of this species.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Eschweilera tenuifolia (O.Berg) Miers: [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.