Monographs Details:
Authority:
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. (Published by NYBG Press)
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. (Published by NYBG Press)
Family:
Lecythidaceae
Lecythidaceae
Synonyms:
Pontopidana Steud., Pontopidana Scop., Pekea, Elsholtzia
Pontopidana Steud., Pontopidana Scop., Pekea, Elsholtzia
Description:
Description - Medium to large trees. Leaves in apical whorls of 7-40 usually with hirsute mass in axils of secondary veins. Inflorescence cauliflorous or rarely ramiflorous on oldest branches, racemose or paniculate arrangements of racemes, growing continuously from apex, pendulous, up to 3 m long, with flowers at apex of rachises only, rarely with a few leaf clusters borne on flowering rachises. Flowers zygomorphic; sepals six, well developed, with rounded lobes; petals six, oblong and curved; androecial hood flat, the stamens extending from staminal ring to apex of hood in C. nicaraguarensis, restricted to apex of hood in C. guianensis and C. subsessilis, the hood pollen of C. guianensis physiologically and morphologically different from that of staminal ring, the apex of hood V-shaped in C. subsessilis; style very short, with 6-partite stigma; ovary 6-locular, the ovules attached to bilamellar placentae running length of locule. Fruit round or nearly round when mature, indehiscent, falling from tree at maturity, the exocarp woody, 5-10 mm thick, the mesocarp fleshy, disintegrated in dried specimens, the endocarp woody, 2-5 mm thick, harder than exocarp, the interior filled with pulp which oxidizes bluish-green when exposed to air, becoming hard and sponge-like or fibrous with age and drying, the dry pulp breaks into six crescent-shaped segments. Seeds ovate, numerous, embedded in pulp, with funicle 10-15 mm long, the testa hirsute to slightly hairy, the cotyledons foliaceous. X = 17.
Description - Medium to large trees. Leaves in apical whorls of 7-40 usually with hirsute mass in axils of secondary veins. Inflorescence cauliflorous or rarely ramiflorous on oldest branches, racemose or paniculate arrangements of racemes, growing continuously from apex, pendulous, up to 3 m long, with flowers at apex of rachises only, rarely with a few leaf clusters borne on flowering rachises. Flowers zygomorphic; sepals six, well developed, with rounded lobes; petals six, oblong and curved; androecial hood flat, the stamens extending from staminal ring to apex of hood in C. nicaraguarensis, restricted to apex of hood in C. guianensis and C. subsessilis, the hood pollen of C. guianensis physiologically and morphologically different from that of staminal ring, the apex of hood V-shaped in C. subsessilis; style very short, with 6-partite stigma; ovary 6-locular, the ovules attached to bilamellar placentae running length of locule. Fruit round or nearly round when mature, indehiscent, falling from tree at maturity, the exocarp woody, 5-10 mm thick, the mesocarp fleshy, disintegrated in dried specimens, the endocarp woody, 2-5 mm thick, harder than exocarp, the interior filled with pulp which oxidizes bluish-green when exposed to air, becoming hard and sponge-like or fibrous with age and drying, the dry pulp breaks into six crescent-shaped segments. Seeds ovate, numerous, embedded in pulp, with funicle 10-15 mm long, the testa hirsute to slightly hairy, the cotyledons foliaceous. X = 17.
Discussion:
Couroupita guianensis is widely cultivated outside its native range.Taxonomic History of CouroupitaThe first definite reference to Couroupita is the pre-Linnean work of Barr ere (1741), who described C. guianensis under the name Pekea. Barrère also referred to the older works of Marc-grave (1648) and Piso (1658), however, it is doubtful that Pekea of Marcgrave and Piso is the same as Couroupita. Barrère cited the vernacular name kouroupitoumou which formed the basis for Aublet’s generic name when he described Couroupita. Aublet (1775) based his description of the genus on C. guianensis and placed the genus in the Linnean order Monadelphia polyandria. Poiteau (1825) gave an extremely detailed description of C. guianensis.The second species to be added to the genus was C. nicaraguarensis, described by de Candolle (1828) who based the description on a Moçiño and Sesse painting. The description is short and inadequate, but a copy of the painting is preserved at Geneva. Recently, the original painting has been discovered and deposited at the Hunt Botanical Institute in Pittsburgh. De Candolle placed Couroupita in his tribe Lecythideae of the Myrtaceae.Seemann (1854) described C. odoratissima from a collection made in Panama. This is regarded here as a synonym of C. nicaraguarensis. Berg added two new species to the genus, C. surinamensis (1854) and C. peruviana (1862), both considered as synonyms of C. guianensis. In his treatment for Martius’s Flora brasiliensis, Berg (1858) described and discussed C. guianensis and C. surinamensis. Berg studied only the type material of both species and one sheet from the Antilles which he noted as being slightly different from typical C. guianensis of Aublet, but he did not assign any taxonomic rank to it. Miers (1874) added four new names, C. antillana, C. membranacea, C. crenulata, and C. lentula. The first species represented the Antillean material mentioned by Berg which is included within C. guianensis in the present work. Couroupita membranacea is also part of the variable C. guianensis. Couroupita crenulata and C. lentula, described by Miers (1874), are both synonyms of Lecythis pisonis. They were placed in Couroupita by Miers on the basis of the fertile stamens of the an- -droecial hood, a feature shared with some species of Lecythis. Miers also treated all the previously described species of Couroupita and thus included nine species in the genus.From 1905 through 1936 nine new species of Couroupita were proposed: C. subsessilis Pilger (1905) (a valid species), C. darienensis Pittier (1927), C. parviflora Standley (1929), C. cutleri Morton & Skutch (1930) (all = C. nicaraguarensis), and C. elata A. C. Smith (1936) (=C. subsessilis). Knuth (1934) proposed C. amazonica (=C. subsessilis), C. froesii, C. saintcroixiana, and C. venezuelensis (all = C. guianensis). In 1939 Knuth added C. acreensis (=C. guianensis) in his monograph of the family, in which he recognized all 19 species of Couroupita described to that date. He did not treat any of the species of previous authors as synonyms and he provided a key which is of little use because of morphological variation within his species, which have been reduced from 19 to three in this treatment.Woodson and Schery (1958) provided a description of Couroupita, reproduced the Central American part of Knuth’s key, and then commented on the inadequate material, discrepancies in descriptions of previous authors, and the impossibility of treating Couroupita properly on the basis of the material available to them. In spite of the chaos in the taxonomy of Central American Couroupita, Dwyer (1965) described two new species, C. idolica and C. magnifica from Panama. These two species are reduced by synonymy under C. guianensis and C. nicaraguarensis, respectively.
Couroupita guianensis is widely cultivated outside its native range.Taxonomic History of CouroupitaThe first definite reference to Couroupita is the pre-Linnean work of Barr ere (1741), who described C. guianensis under the name Pekea. Barrère also referred to the older works of Marc-grave (1648) and Piso (1658), however, it is doubtful that Pekea of Marcgrave and Piso is the same as Couroupita. Barrère cited the vernacular name kouroupitoumou which formed the basis for Aublet’s generic name when he described Couroupita. Aublet (1775) based his description of the genus on C. guianensis and placed the genus in the Linnean order Monadelphia polyandria. Poiteau (1825) gave an extremely detailed description of C. guianensis.The second species to be added to the genus was C. nicaraguarensis, described by de Candolle (1828) who based the description on a Moçiño and Sesse painting. The description is short and inadequate, but a copy of the painting is preserved at Geneva. Recently, the original painting has been discovered and deposited at the Hunt Botanical Institute in Pittsburgh. De Candolle placed Couroupita in his tribe Lecythideae of the Myrtaceae.Seemann (1854) described C. odoratissima from a collection made in Panama. This is regarded here as a synonym of C. nicaraguarensis. Berg added two new species to the genus, C. surinamensis (1854) and C. peruviana (1862), both considered as synonyms of C. guianensis. In his treatment for Martius’s Flora brasiliensis, Berg (1858) described and discussed C. guianensis and C. surinamensis. Berg studied only the type material of both species and one sheet from the Antilles which he noted as being slightly different from typical C. guianensis of Aublet, but he did not assign any taxonomic rank to it. Miers (1874) added four new names, C. antillana, C. membranacea, C. crenulata, and C. lentula. The first species represented the Antillean material mentioned by Berg which is included within C. guianensis in the present work. Couroupita membranacea is also part of the variable C. guianensis. Couroupita crenulata and C. lentula, described by Miers (1874), are both synonyms of Lecythis pisonis. They were placed in Couroupita by Miers on the basis of the fertile stamens of the an- -droecial hood, a feature shared with some species of Lecythis. Miers also treated all the previously described species of Couroupita and thus included nine species in the genus.From 1905 through 1936 nine new species of Couroupita were proposed: C. subsessilis Pilger (1905) (a valid species), C. darienensis Pittier (1927), C. parviflora Standley (1929), C. cutleri Morton & Skutch (1930) (all = C. nicaraguarensis), and C. elata A. C. Smith (1936) (=C. subsessilis). Knuth (1934) proposed C. amazonica (=C. subsessilis), C. froesii, C. saintcroixiana, and C. venezuelensis (all = C. guianensis). In 1939 Knuth added C. acreensis (=C. guianensis) in his monograph of the family, in which he recognized all 19 species of Couroupita described to that date. He did not treat any of the species of previous authors as synonyms and he provided a key which is of little use because of morphological variation within his species, which have been reduced from 19 to three in this treatment.Woodson and Schery (1958) provided a description of Couroupita, reproduced the Central American part of Knuth’s key, and then commented on the inadequate material, discrepancies in descriptions of previous authors, and the impossibility of treating Couroupita properly on the basis of the material available to them. In spite of the chaos in the taxonomy of Central American Couroupita, Dwyer (1965) described two new species, C. idolica and C. magnifica from Panama. These two species are reduced by synonymy under C. guianensis and C. nicaraguarensis, respectively.
Distribution:
Nicaragua Central America| Panama Central America| Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Venezuela South America| Brazil South America| French Guiana South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America|
Nicaragua Central America| Panama Central America| Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Venezuela South America| Brazil South America| French Guiana South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America|