Monographs Details:
Authority:

Berg, Cornelius C. 1972. Olmedieae, Brosimeae (Moraceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 7: 1-229. (Published by NYBG Press)
Family:

Moraceae
Scientific Name:

Perebea
Synonyms:

Mikania, Noyera, Perebea guianensis Aubl.
Description:

Description - Dioecious or monoecious trees or shrubs. Leaves chartaceous to coriaceous, brownish when dry, often more or less lead-colored above, often dentate to denticulate; pluricellular hairs either globose-capitate or oblongoid-capitate, mostly abundant; stipules free, completely amplexicaul, caducous. Staminate inflorescence often on well-developed short shoots, mostly discoid (subsessile to) pedunculate, many- to one-flowered; tepals (2-)4, free or connate; stamens (2-)4(-6), filaments straight or slightly incurved before anthesis, often broadened towards the base, free or basally connate, anthers small, connectives broad. Pistillate inflorescences solitary or accompanied by staminate ones, many- to one-flowered; flowers mostly free; perianth (3-)4-lobed, (3-)4-fid, or entire; ovary free or partly adnate to the perianth; stigmas about semidisciform, linguiform, vittiform, or filiform. Fruiting perianth fleshy, red (dish); fruit free or more or less adnate to the perianth; seed with a large, orbiculate to reniform terminal hilum.

Discussion:

History.

The genus Perebea was established by Aublet (1775) who described a single species, P. guianensis. Both description and figures present no problems for identification. Trecul (1847) added P. laurifolia, which turns out to be identical with Maquira guianensis Aublet. In the same paper he described a staminate specimen ofi°. guianensis as Olmedia? grandifolia. In 1862 Karsten described two further species from Colombia. Bentham (1880) referred Castill(o)a markhamiana and Olmedia calophylla to Perebea. In Engler’s treatment of the Moraceae (1889) the genus Noyera sensu Bentham was united with Perebea. Thus the quite distinct genus Naucleopsis was included. Moreover, figures of Naucleopsis macrophylla copied from Flora Brasiliensis were captioned with the name Perebea laurifolia. Pittier (1912) treated the genera Perebea, Naucleopsis, and Noyera again as distinct. Twenty-three species have been placed in Perebea in the course of time. Most of them were described as new or transferred to Perebea in the present century. Woodson (i960) strongly reduced the number of species in the treatment of the Moraceae in the Flora of Panama. Due to misinterpretations his lists of synonyms differ from those in the present revision.

The genus Noyera was first distinguished by Trecul (1847). He described a single species, N. rubra. Bentham (1880) included Naucleopsis and Ogcodeia (as On-codeia) in Noyera. Engler (1889) transferred Noyera sensu Bentham to Perebea and recognized it as a section. Ducke (1922) transferred Olmedia mollis Poeppig and Endlicher (1838) to the reinstated genus Noyera and described a third species in 1932.

In the present revision eight species are recognized. Two of them are new. Subspecific taxa are distinguished in two species. Habit.

In most Perebea species flowering twigs were usually collected from small trees or shrubs. Several of these species can also develop into trees of considerable height. The representatives of P. humilis are dwarf shrubs, as far as could be concluded from the material extant. Leaves.

The leaves are often dentate or denticulate. Entire and dentate leaves may occur on the same twig. The occurrence of dentate or denticulate leaf margins seems to be more or less correlated with the texture of the leaves. The pluricellular hairs are globose-capitate (in sect Noyera) or oblongoid-capitate (in sect Perebea).

Inflorescences.

P. humilis seems to be monoecious. Inflorescences of both sexes are often found together in specimens of P. xanthochyma. In these two species the short shoots may reach a length of 1 cm. Complemental staminate inflorescences are occasionally found in some of the other species.

The staminate inflorescences usually occur on well-developed short shoots which may produce a great number of inflorescences. Perebea is the only genus of the neotropical Olmedieae with uniflorous staminate inflorescences; in P. humilis the inflorescences of both sexes are uniflorous. The inflorescences of P. angustifolia bear a few to some tens of flowers. The other species have multiflorous inflorescences; however, the number of flowers may vary considerably within the species. The number of involucral bracts is correlated with the number of flowers. In most species the centre of the flower is hairy. In P. longepedunculata and P. tessmannii the filaments are basally connate; the tuft of hairs is borne by the column consisting of the basal parts of the filaments.

As in the staminate inflorescences, a reduction series from many-flowered to one-flowered is present in the pistillate inflorescences. The flowers are mostly free. The ovaries are free or partly adnate to the perianth. In the latter case the fruits are almost wholly adnate to the fleshy red fruiting perianth.

Taxonomic notes.

In the present revision Noyera is included in Perebea as no appreciable morphological differences justify the separation of these genera. The species hitherto placed in Noyera differ from the other species in their filiform stigmas, their globose-capitate hairs, and their long inner involucral bracts which are incurved before anthesis. On account of these differences two sections are distinguished in Perebea.

The species are rather easily told apart. However, some collections could not be matched with any of them; they might represent new species. Regional (and local?) morphological differentiation has taken place in widespread species, like P. guianensis, P. xanthochyma, and P. mollis.
Distribution:

Costa Rica South America| Panama Central America| Colombia South America| French Guiana South America| Bolivia South America| Brazil South America| Ecuador South America| Guyana South America| Peru South America| Suriname South America| Venezuela South America|