Monographs Details:
Authority:

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.
Family:

Lecythidaceae
Description:

Species Description - Canopy trees, to 35(-4-0) m, often, but not always, with buttresses. Bark brown to very dark brown, more or less smooth, not noticeably fissured, peeling in irregular plates, with vertically oriented lenticels, the outer bark ca. 1 mm thick, the inner bark 5-7 mm thick, yellowish white to yellowish brown. Leaves: petioles 7-14 mm long; blades narrowly elliptic to elliptic, 11-26 x 4.5-8 cm, coriaceous, glabrous, with 9-16 pairs of lateral veins; base acute to rounded; apex acuminate. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, usually a paniculate arrangement of once-branched racemes, less frequently of simple racemes, the rachises puberulous, often zigzag, with pedicel bases persisting as short, conspicuous knobs; pedicels 10-20 mm long above joint, 1-2 mm long below. Flowers 3.5-5 cm diam.; calyx-lobes 6, often tinged with red, 3-9 x 3-7 mm, often gibbous at base; petals 6, white, sometimes tinged with yellow on outside; androecial hood yellow on outside, more intensely yellow on inside, the staminal ring with 170-280 stamens; ovary 2-locular, the style not well differentiated from summit of ovary, ca. 1-2 mm long. Fruits depressed globose, often abruptly contracted below calycine ring, the calycine ring inserted near middle, 3-4 (excluding operculum) x 3.5-8 cm, the pericarp 3-10 mm thick; operculum convex, umbonate. Seeds circular in cross section, 25-30 x 15-20 mm, with lateral funicle-aril.

Discussion:

Phenology. Flowers from Oct to Nov and fruits from Jan to Feb. Seedlings have been collected in Mar. Common name. Matamatá verdadeira. Comments. This species is characterized by its (1) dark brown bark, (2) yellowish white to yellowish brown slash, (3) buttresses that in some individuals are very large and steep, (4) medium-sized flowers (3.5-5 cm diam.), (5) calyx-lobes with slightly gibbous bases, (6) white petals and yellow androecial hood, and (7) fruits with an erect supracalycine zone. The fruits are often truncate directly below the calycine ring.
Distribution:

Panama Central America| Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Brazil South America|