Maguire, Bassett & Wurdack, John J. 1958. The botany of the Guayana Highland--Part III. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 10: 1-156.
Myrtaceae
Latin Diagnosis - Arbor mediocris, ramulis exalatis, paniculis sparse pubescentibus, alabastris glabris; foliis chartaceis ellipticis, 2.5-5.5 (-13) cm longis, circiter duplo longioribus quam latioribus, acutis vel breviacuminatis, basi acutis; nervo medio supra eonvexo vel planiusculo; petiolis 3 mm longis; paniculis 2-4 (-10) cm longis multifloris, ramulis tenuibus, peduneulis 3-floris 0.5 mm angustioribus; alabastris siecis pallidis, clausis, 3-3.5 mm longis ealyptratis; hypanthio ad florendi tempus paulum explanato et marginibus tenuissimis, revolutis; orbe staminali glabro.
Species Description - Small tree, the branchlets and inflorescence sparingly pubescent with pale or reddish erect or ascending hairs 0.2-0.3 mm long, these on the vegetative buds thickly appressed and up to 0.5 mm long, a very few slender dark dibraehiate hairs persisting on the midvein on the lower surface; leaves elliptic, 1.5-2.5 (-6) cm wide, 2.5-5.5 (-13) cm long, about 2-2.3 times as long as wide, about equally narrowed to the acute or short-acuminate apex and the acute base, the margins decurrent on the compressed petiole 1 mm wide, 3 mm long; midvein flat or convex above, scarcely more prominent beneath; lateral veins 10-15 pairs, weakly defined and separated by irregular reticulations, apparent as pale fine lines above, slightly elevated beneath; marginal veins similar, arched between the laterals, 1-2 mm from the margin; blades very smooth but dull above, paler but rougher beneath, with pale translucent dots apparent on both surfaces; inflorescence axillary and terminal, the paired panicles 2-4 (-10) cm long, reddish, twice compound, often 30- to 60-flowered, the flowers short-pedieelled near the tips of the branches, drying pale yellow-brown; peduncle 1-1.5 (-3.5) cm long, 1-1.5 mm wide near the summit; buds closed, obovoid, 3-3.5 mm long including the short apiculum and the short pseudostalk; hypanthium in anthesis infundibuliform, prolonged 1.5 mm beyond the summit of the ovary, the thin margin soon revolutc and the whole explanate, the disk 2.5 mm wide; calyptra dome-like, about 2 mm wide; style 3.5-4.5 mm long; stamens about 100, to 5 mm long, the anthers 0.2 mm long; petals 4, irregularly obovate or spatulate, cuneate, erose, about 1 mm wide, 2 mm long, one or more often adhering to the calyptra; ovary bilocule, with 2 ascending ovules in each locule.
The thin revolute margins of the hypanthium, on which occasionally persist small irregular lobes in addition to the calyptra, suggest the possibility that this species might be assigned to Marlierea instead of Calyptranthcs. It is closely similar in morphology, however, to Calyptranthes, multiflora Berg, a widespread species of the Upper Amazon and Orinoco Basins; the two are so much alike that they might conceivably be conspecific, and surely are congeneric. Unfortunately I have never seen flowering material of C. multiflora and its genericposition can not be surely determined from specimens which are in bud only, or in fruit only. It would be premature to transfer it to Marlierea before flowering specimens have been studied.
A specimen which suggests a condition intermediate between C florifcra and C. multiflora is Rchultes d- Cabrera 12642, from Soratama, Rio Apaporis. entre el rio Paeoa y el rio Kananari, elevation 250 m, Amazonas-Vaupi's, Colombia, 18 June 1951 (MICH). This has the broad leaves of florifera, and apparently the pubescence and tendency to darken of multiflora.
An undescribed species of unknown genus has been collected twice in fruit, and will key out near Calyptranthes florifera. It is described as a tree 12-15 m high; it is glabrous except the pale-hairy vegetative buds; leaves ovate, rigidly coriaceous, 2.5-4 cm wide, 5.5-10 cm long, 2-2.7 times as long as wide, gradually but prominently acuminate, rounded and subcordate or cordate at the base, on very stout and short petioles 1.5-2 mm thick, 2-3 mm long; midvein broad and flat or convex above, 1-1.5 mm wide at the base; lateral veins scarcely apparent above, the surface very smooth and featureless; margins cartilaginous, somewhat revolute when dry; paired panicles up to 5 cm long in fruit, probably twice compound and freely branched, the fruit (somewhat immature) globose with a short conical base, 1.5—2 cm in diameter, with a thick woody pericarp 3 mm thick, the whole with terminal convex disk 3-3.5 mm wide, surrounded by the narrow remains of the hypanthium tube; seed 1, myrcioid.
The paired panicles and the naked umbo at the end of the fruit suggest that this plant belongs to Calyptranthes or to Marlierea, but in the absence of flowers it seems premature to assign it definitely to a genus.
Two fruiting specimens from the middle Orinoco lowlands are referred to C. multiflora with some question: the leaves reach maximum dimensions of 4-7 cm wide, 12-14 cm long, and the fruits are oblate, 1-1.5 cm in diameter; leaves and fruits appear to be larger than might be expected in this species, but both specimens include some leaves of more usual dimensions for C multiflora, and the general appearance is exactly of that species.
Venezuela South America|