Monographs Details:
Authority:

Renner, Susanne S. & Hausner, Gerlinde. 2005. Siparunaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 95: 1--247 pp. (Published by NYBG Press)
Family:

Monimiaceae
Synonyms:

Citriosma riparia Tul., Siparuna riparia (Tul.) A.DC., Citriosma andina Tul., Siparuna andina (Tul.) A.DC., Siparuna lagopus (Tul.) A.DC., Siparuna chiridota (Tul.) A.DC., Siparuna riparia var. sumichrastii A.DC., Siparuna sumichrastii (A.DC.) Perkins, Siparuna nicaraguensis Hemsl., Siparuna nigra Rusby, Siparuna venezuelensis Perkins, Siparuna nigra Rusby, Siparuna davillifolia Perkins, Siparuna colimensis Perkins, Siparuna riparia var. macrophylla Perkins, Siparuna ternata Perkins, Siparuna grisea Perkins, Siparuna microphylla Perkins, Siparuna parviflora Perkins, Siparuna loretensis Perkins, Siparuna cuzcoana Perkins, Siparuna dasyantha Perkins, Siparuna heteropoda Perkins, Siparuna gilgiana Perkins, Siparuna tetradenia Perkins, Siparuna tapatana A.C.Sm., Siparuna calignosa J.F.Macbr., Siparuna metensis A.C.Sm., Siparuna geniculata A.C.Sm., Siparuna macra Standl., Siparuna diandra J.A.Duke, Siparuna manarae Steyerm., Siparuna stellulata var. manarae (Steyerm.) Steyerm., Siparuna domatiata A.H.Gentry, Siparuna verticillata S.S.Renner & Hausner, Siparuna pubancura S.S.Renner & Hausner
Description:

Species Description - Dioecious shrub, sometimes hanging over other shrubs, 1-12 m tall and reaching a dbh of 10 cm, rarely a 20 m tall tree with a dbh of up to 20 cm; bark pinkish or dark rufous to chocolate brown; young branchlets terete, more or less pubescent with short appressed or spreading stellate, simple, or bifid hairs, rarely with long spreading hairs (up to 3 mm long). Leaves opposite or in whorls of 3; petioles 0.7-3.5 (-5) cm long; lamina drying reddish brown, grayish brown, coffee-brown, or green, chartaceous, elliptic to obovate, rarely oblong or lanceolate, 8-25(-39) X (3-)5-8(-15) cm, the base acute to obtuse, rarely rounded or with two or three serrations or small triangular appendages at the base, sometimes with small mite domada, the apex acuminate, the tip 0.5-1.5 cm long, both surfaces with simple, bifid, or stellate hairs of variable size and thickness (Figs. 3C, 3F), the upper leaf surface drying dull, sometimes glabrescent above, with 6-12 pairs of secondary veins, the veins smooth above, slightly raised below, the margin more or less distinctly serrulate and flat. Cymes 1-5.5 cm long, with 10-20(-30) flowers, the male cymes sometimes fasciculate (Fig. 5E). Fresh flowers yellow or cream, later orange-red; male floral cup broadly ob-conical to subglobose, 0.4-2.5 mm in diam. and height, the tepals 4-6, broadly triangular to lobed, 0.1-0.6(-l) mm long, usually forming a shallowly lobed or circular rim (Fig. 11D), sometimes the tepals obsolete, the floral roof moderately to distinctly raised, glabrous or sparsely covered with minute appressed stellate hairs, glabrescent; stamens 2-5(-9); female floral cup broadly obconical to subglobose, 1.5-2.7 mm in diam., 2-2.6 mm high, the floral roof almost flat to distinctly raised (Figs. 6B, 6C) and typically separated by a deep groove from a more or less developed central tube sheathing the styles (Fig. 6E), the tepals as in the male flowers except to 1.2 mm long (Figs. 6B, 6C); styles 5-19, sometimes fused (Fig. 6C). Fruiting receptacle globose and smooth, 11.5 cm in diam., pubescent or glabrous, the 6-15 drupelets distinctly protruding in dried receptacles, when fresh and mature red with pale brown or green spots and a strong lemon smell, the drupelets gray with a bright red stylar aril (Fig. 14).

Discussion:

In Central America, the leaves of Siparuna thecaphora are brewed to prepare a tea against respiratory ailments. In Ecuador, leaves and fruits are crushed and rubbed directly onto the face and head to alleviate headaches and fever. Branches are also used to fan or touch sick people to treat “mal viento” or “mal aire” (malaria side effects). Alternatively, leaves and fruits are boiled in water, which is then drunk against malaria symptoms, colics, and diarrhea. The bark is applied to snake bites until the pain stops. The use of S. thecaphora leaf extracts against female sterility is reported by Chiu et al. (1982). See Chemistry and Ethnobotany for further details and references.

Siparuna thecaphora is the most widespread and frequently collected species in the genus. It ranges from Mexico to Bolivia and is accordingly variable. The most striking variation concerns the presence or absence of leaf domada and the length and density of pubescence.

Poeppig and Endlicher (1838: 48) described Siparuna thecaphora as monoecious, “decandris (?) foemineis trigynis.” Likely, they saw mixed material as indicated by Perkins (1901: 90-91) who found that Poeppig 2157, the holotype now lost, consisted of a female branch with 10-11 styles, which she considered true S. thecaphora, and a twig of S. sessiliflora. She appears to have kept a few leaves from the Vienna holotype of S. thecaphora for the Berlin herbarium where she worked. This is the material photographed by Macbride (F photo neg. 13541), who removed one leaf to accompany the photograph in the Field Museum. This and another leaf (GH frag. ex B) are the only surviving authentic fragments of S. thecaphora. Among hundreds of collections of S. thecaphora, we have never seen monoecious material, and Perkins assessment of the type material surely is correct. (The claim made in the protologue of S. venezuelensis that its type, Fendler 2358, is monoecious is erroneous.)

Many workers before us have commented on the similarities of some of the entities here synonymized. Most workers, however, were concerned with material and names from a geographically limited area, and they therefore rarely made the connection between the little-used Peruvian name Siparuna thecaphora and its younger synonyms. Thus, Standley and Steyermark (1946) in the Flora of Guatemala suggested that S. sumichrastii Was “rather doubtfully distinct from S. nicaraguensis." Likewise, Duke (1962) in the Flora of Panama dealt with entities essentially indistinguishable (see, for example, his descriptions and figures of S. nicaraguensis and S. chandra). His excellent drawings show the finely stellate-pubescent flowers, pointed stamens, and somewhat irregular tepal rims typical of S. thecaphora as illustrated by Perkins. Strikingly similar illustrations accompany the protologues of S. manarae Steyermark from Venezuela and other entities here synonymized, such as S. chiridota (see Perkins & Gilg in Das Pflanzenreich, 1901, Fig. 23N).

In the discussion of Siparuna nicaraguensis, Duke points out that material from especially humid places, such as the Darién, may have uncommonly large leaves and petioles. This certainly seems to be the case and warns against using leaf size as a character. Additional variation exists in the number of stamens. Thus, some flowers of S. thecaphora have two stamens (Fig. 11D) instead of the usual 5-6. Such collections formed the basis of S. gilgiana Perkins and S. diandra Duke. After dissecting numerous flowers, it became clear that two-stamened flowers (Figs. 1 ID, 1 IE) occur every once in a while throughout the range of S. thecaphora and that this character does not correlate with other traits.

Specimens from central Panama (Cocié, Colón, Panamá, and San Bias) sometimes bear conspicuous domatia at the lamina bases. This was recognized tax-onomically by Alwyn Gentry (as Siparuna doma-tiata) although he later regretted having described this species because the domatia appeared too variable (A. Gentry, personal communication to SSR, 1993). Other collections from the type locality of S. domatiata have domatia of various sizes or lack domatia altogether, showing that the character is unstable. The domatia apparently house mites, but no observations on their occupants and ecological role are available. In addition to Panamenian material, the protologue of S. domatiata cites material from the Río Palenque area in western Ecuador, and the illustration that accompanies the protologue is based on Ecuadorean material. However, domatia are rarely seen in Ecuadorean collections of S. thecaphora. Leaf domatia are occasionally also present in S. eggersii, S. gigantotepala, S. laurifolia, S. lepidota, S. multiflora, S. piloso-lepidota, and S. stellulata (Fig. 70B), with different leaves on the same plant possessing or lacking domatia.

Not unexpectedly, given its wide altitudinal and habitat range, Siparuna thecaphora is variable in hair length and density, with the hairs being simple, few-branched, or stellate, and either appressed or spreading. In the Flora of Ecuador (Renner and Hausner, 1997), we tried to maintain a narrower concept of S. thecaphora than we do now after studying more material. A few spreading-pubescent collections from eastern Ecuador and Peru are therefore now included in S. thecaphora, while they were formerly treated as S. hispida (a synonym of S. grandiflora as to the type). Inflorescences in this material are elongate and slender (e.g., Nuñez et al. 19415, 19740, and 19803), floral receptacles are essentially glabrous (Salick 7248), and tepals near-obsolete. Both characters fit better with S. thecaphora than with S. grandiflora. Collections from the Colombian and Venezuelan llanos (that have been described as S. ternata, S. geni-culata, and S. metensis) and collections from the Department of Madre de Dios in Peru are especially densely pubescent. The types of these names as well as recent topotypical collections all are densely and softly pilose and several have ternate phyllotaxis. When describing S. geniculata, A. C. Smith indicated that it was “characterized by the hispid, usually simple, hairs of its branchlets, petioles, and leaves, by its small thin leaves, and by the unusual arrangement of its few stamens. In the latter character it suggests S. chiridota (Tul.) A. DC. [another synonym of S. thecaphora], from which it conspicuously differs in pubescence, leaf-size, and its larger and more lax male inflorescence.” The “unusual arrangement of the stamens” that Smith is describing refers to the symmetrical arrangement of the four outer stamens that is often seen in S. thecaphora, S. aspera, S. conica (Fig. 12A), and S. gesnerioides, and other species. Smith’s description of the material is absolutely correct and captures the salient features of (pubescent) Amazonian collections of S. thecaphora. Other collections from the same localities are less pubescent.

The pollination and sex ratio of Siparuna thecaphora were studied by Feil (1992, under the names S. chiridota and S. aff. thecaphora).
Distribution:

Norte de Santander Colombia South America| Chiapas Mexico North America| Colima Mexico North America| Guerrero Mexico North America| Jalisco Mexico North America| Nayarit Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Tabasco Mexico North America| Veracruz Mexico North America| Alta Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Baja Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Chiquimula Guatemala Central America| Huehuetenango Guatemala Central America| Izabal Guatemala Central America| Petén Guatemala Central America| Quiché Guatemala Central America| San Marcos Guatemala Central America| Cayo Belize Central America| Stann Creek Belize Central America| Toledo Belize Central America| Atlántida Honduras Central America| Colón Honduras Central America| Comayagua Honduras Central America| Copán Honduras Central America| Cortés Honduras Central America| El Paraíso Honduras Central America| Gracias a Dios Honduras Central America| La Paz Honduras Central America| Lempira Honduras Central America| Morazán Honduras Central America| Olancho Honduras Central America| Santa Bárbara Honduras Central America| Yoro Honduras Central America| Chontales Nicaragua Central America| Jinotega Nicaragua Central America| Matagalpa Nicaragua Central America| Nueva Segovia Nicaragua Central America| Zelaya Nicaragua Central America| Alajuela Costa Rica Central America| Cartago Costa Rica Central America| Guanacaste Costa Rica Central America| Heredia Costa Rica Central America| Limón Costa Rica Central America| Puntarenas Costa Rica Central America| San José Costa Rica Central America| Bocas del Toro Panamá Central America| Chiriquí Panamá Central America| Coclé Panamá Central America| Colón Panama Central America| Darién Panamá Central America| Panamá Panama Central America| San Blás Panamá Central America| Veraguas Panama Central America| Amazonas Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America| Boyacá Colombia South America| Caquetá Colombia South America| Casanare Colombia South America| Cauca Colombia South America| César Colombia South America| Chocó Colombia South America| Cundinamarca Colombia South America| Guainía Colombia South America| Guaviare Colombia South America| Magdalena Colombia South America| Meta Colombia South America| Nariño Colombia South America| Putumayo Colombia South America| Quindío Colombia South America| Vichada Colombia South America| Aragua Venezuela South America| Carabobo Venezuela South America| Distrito Federal Venezuela South America| Mérida Venezuela South America| Miranda Venezuela South America| Sucre Venezuela South America| Táchira Venezuela South America| Trujillo Venezuela South America| Yaracuy Venezuela South America| Ecuador South America| Napo Ecuador South America| Orellana Ecuador South America| Pastaza Ecuador South America| Pichincha Ecuador South America| Sucumbíos Ecuador South America| Zamora-Chinchipe Ecuador South America| Amazonas Peru South America| Ayacucho Peru South America| Huánuco Peru South America| Junín Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Madre de Dios Peru South America| Pasco Peru South America| San Martín Peru South America| Ucayali Peru South America| Acre Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America| Beni Bolivia South America| Cochabamba Bolivia South America| La Paz Bolivia South America| Pando Bolivia South America| Santa Cruz Bolivia South America| Madriz Nicaragua Central America| Cusco Peru South America|

Common Names:

limoncillo, mano de tigre, manzanillo, palo de carabina, cerbatana, chuché, hormiguillo, limoncillo, yaya de mono, wild coffee, wild coffee, limoncillo, citronella, limoncillo, chucha, deud-d, limoncillo, romadizo, Asna panga, cara chupa panga, huaira panga, malagri panga, malagri caspi, palu panga, raposa panga, suna panga, auca huayusa, guayusa, hoja de raposa, limoncillo, huaira manalli, huahua huairachina, nataquére, cocotsena, nonangonca, nononcagui, nemocago, veñañabo, puban cura, bu wann cura, achimosa, achimosa blanca, asna huayo, curuinsi sacha, isula caspi, isula hu-ayo, limón de monte, limoncillo, kuasik, macusaro