Monographs Details:
Authority:
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. (Published by NYBG Press)
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. (Published by NYBG Press)
Family:
Lecythidaceae
Lecythidaceae
Synonyms:
Lecythis ampullaria Miers, Lecythis bogotensis Miers, Lecythis costaricensis Pittier, Lecythis curranii Pittier, Lecythis armilensis Pittier, Lecythis boyacensis R.Knuth
Lecythis ampullaria Miers, Lecythis bogotensis Miers, Lecythis costaricensis Pittier, Lecythis curranii Pittier, Lecythis armilensis Pittier, Lecythis boyacensis R.Knuth
Description:
Description - Large trees, 30-45 m, often with well-developed buttresses. Bark brown, with deep vertical fissures, the outer bark laminated. Sapwood cream-colored, the heartwood red. Leaves deciduous; leaf blades narrowly to widely elliptic, 6-12(-17) x 2-5(-8) cm, glabrous, chartaceous, with 10-15 pairs of lateral veins; apex acuminate; base obtuse or rarely rounded, very narrowly decurrent onto pedicel; margins crenate, with 46-60 teeth on each side; petiole 5-10 mm long, puberulous or glabrous. Inflorescences racemose, arising from branches below leaves or occupying end of lateral branch and thereby appearing terminal, often with more than one raceme arising from same point, the rachises to 12 cm long, lenticellate, the pedicels absent to 3 mm long, puberulous, leaving knob 1 mm long after disarticulating. Flowers ca. 3 cm diam.; calyx with six widely to narrowly ovate lobes, 5-7 x 3-5.5 mm; petals six, widely elliptic, 15-18 x 10-12 mm, pink or pale purple, fading white; hood of androecium flat, 13-15 x 14-20 mm, pink, with well developed appendages, the proximal ones antheriferous; staminal ring with 127—170(—225) stamens, the filaments 1-2 mm long, dilated at apex, the anthers 0.5-0.6 mm long; hypanthium puberulous; ovary (3-)4-locular, with 4-10 ovules in each locule, the ovules inserted at base of septum, the style 1-1.5 mm long, with annular expansion towards apex. Fruits very large and woody, globose to oblong, usually longer than wide, tapered at 45-60° angle from calycine ring to opercular opening, rounded at base, 10-25 x 10-22 cm, the pericarp 1.5-3 cm thick. Seeds fusiform, longitudinally 9-10 sulcate, to 9 x 3 cm, subtended by large, fleshy aril.
Description - Large trees, 30-45 m, often with well-developed buttresses. Bark brown, with deep vertical fissures, the outer bark laminated. Sapwood cream-colored, the heartwood red. Leaves deciduous; leaf blades narrowly to widely elliptic, 6-12(-17) x 2-5(-8) cm, glabrous, chartaceous, with 10-15 pairs of lateral veins; apex acuminate; base obtuse or rarely rounded, very narrowly decurrent onto pedicel; margins crenate, with 46-60 teeth on each side; petiole 5-10 mm long, puberulous or glabrous. Inflorescences racemose, arising from branches below leaves or occupying end of lateral branch and thereby appearing terminal, often with more than one raceme arising from same point, the rachises to 12 cm long, lenticellate, the pedicels absent to 3 mm long, puberulous, leaving knob 1 mm long after disarticulating. Flowers ca. 3 cm diam.; calyx with six widely to narrowly ovate lobes, 5-7 x 3-5.5 mm; petals six, widely elliptic, 15-18 x 10-12 mm, pink or pale purple, fading white; hood of androecium flat, 13-15 x 14-20 mm, pink, with well developed appendages, the proximal ones antheriferous; staminal ring with 127—170(—225) stamens, the filaments 1-2 mm long, dilated at apex, the anthers 0.5-0.6 mm long; hypanthium puberulous; ovary (3-)4-locular, with 4-10 ovules in each locule, the ovules inserted at base of septum, the style 1-1.5 mm long, with annular expansion towards apex. Fruits very large and woody, globose to oblong, usually longer than wide, tapered at 45-60° angle from calycine ring to opercular opening, rounded at base, 10-25 x 10-22 cm, the pericarp 1.5-3 cm thick. Seeds fusiform, longitudinally 9-10 sulcate, to 9 x 3 cm, subtended by large, fleshy aril.
Discussion:
The fruits of L. ampla are employed as canisters and its lumber is used in construction and cabinet making. The fruits and seeds are used by the Cuna Indians in their folk medicine (Mori, 1970).Although the fruits of L. ampla display considerable variation in size, size of opercular opening, and position of the calyx scars, this variability does not merit taxonomic recognition. Size provides an excellent example of the magnitude of variation to be expected among the fruits of this species. The largest fruits are two times bigger than the smallest and, when examined separately, could be thought to represent separate species. However, when fruits from many collections are examined, the extreme sizes are connected by intermediates. As in other Lecythidaceae, fruit variation is to be expected among individuals and even within individuals (Mori, 1970). Pittier’s photograph of the fruits of the type collection of L. costaricensis (1912, pl. 7) illustrates this variation. He later described L. curranii (Pittier, 1918) and L. armiliensis (Pittier, 1927), both of which possess fruits that fall within the range of variation illustrated for his L. costaricensis (herein treated as a synonym of L. ampla).In 1874, Miers described and illustrated L. ampullaria and L. ampla. These are the earliest names for the species under consideration. His descriptions were based on fruits and seeds, the former on a fruit that had been altered to form a “water bottle” (cf. Miers, 1874, fig. 38) and the latter on an unaltered fruit and the seeds of another collection. His drawings and descriptions are enough to identify both fruits with the species under consideration. Although both names appear in the same publication, L. ampla is more acceptable because its description is based on an unmutilated fruit (Mori, 1975).
The fruits of L. ampla are employed as canisters and its lumber is used in construction and cabinet making. The fruits and seeds are used by the Cuna Indians in their folk medicine (Mori, 1970).Although the fruits of L. ampla display considerable variation in size, size of opercular opening, and position of the calyx scars, this variability does not merit taxonomic recognition. Size provides an excellent example of the magnitude of variation to be expected among the fruits of this species. The largest fruits are two times bigger than the smallest and, when examined separately, could be thought to represent separate species. However, when fruits from many collections are examined, the extreme sizes are connected by intermediates. As in other Lecythidaceae, fruit variation is to be expected among individuals and even within individuals (Mori, 1970). Pittier’s photograph of the fruits of the type collection of L. costaricensis (1912, pl. 7) illustrates this variation. He later described L. curranii (Pittier, 1918) and L. armiliensis (Pittier, 1927), both of which possess fruits that fall within the range of variation illustrated for his L. costaricensis (herein treated as a synonym of L. ampla).In 1874, Miers described and illustrated L. ampullaria and L. ampla. These are the earliest names for the species under consideration. His descriptions were based on fruits and seeds, the former on a fruit that had been altered to form a “water bottle” (cf. Miers, 1874, fig. 38) and the latter on an unaltered fruit and the seeds of another collection. His drawings and descriptions are enough to identify both fruits with the species under consideration. Although both names appear in the same publication, L. ampla is more acceptable because its description is based on an unmutilated fruit (Mori, 1975).
Distribution and Ecology: Lecythis ampla ranges from the lower Magdalena Valley of Colombia and from northern coastal Ecuador into the Choco of Colombia and the Darien of Panama from where it extends north through the Atlantic coastal forests of Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. It is found from near sea level to 800 meters. Observations by Frankie et al. (1974), made near Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, indicate that flowering of L. ampla immediately follows leaf flush at the onset of increased rainfall. They report that leaf drop occurs in Apr, leaf flushing from May to Jun, flowering from May to Jul, and mature fruit from Mar to Apr. Here, between 8 and 10 months lapse from flowering to mature fruits. The same phenology holds for this species in the Darien of Panama where I have observed both leafless trees and trees with young leaves and flowers at the beginning of the wet season in early Apr 1975.
Distribution:
Nicaragua Central America| Río San Juan Nicaragua Central America| Costa Rica South America| Heredia Costa Rica Central America| Panama Central America| Darién Panamá Central America| Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America| Santander Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Esmeraldas Ecuador South America|
Nicaragua Central America| Río San Juan Nicaragua Central America| Costa Rica South America| Heredia Costa Rica Central America| Panama Central America| Darién Panamá Central America| Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America| Santander Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Esmeraldas Ecuador South America|
Common Names:
pan suba, jícaro, caoba, coco salero, coco de mono, Olla de mono
pan suba, jícaro, caoba, coco salero, coco de mono, Olla de mono