Taxon Details: Eschweilera hondurensis Standl.
Taxon Profile:
The Plant List
International Plant Name Index
Tropicos
Catalogue of Life
Global Biodiversity Information Facility
JSTOR Types
JSTOR
BHL
Encyclopedia of Life
WikiSpecies
Google Scholar
PubMed
Morphbank
IUCN
National Center for Biotechnology Information
Barcode of Life
Multimedia:

Narratives:

Additional Resources:

Family:

Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)
Scientific Name:

Eschweilera hondurensis Standl.
Primary Citation:

Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 9: 318-319. 1940
Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.
Type Specimens:

Specimen 1: Isotype -- T. G. Yuncker
Specimen 2: Isotype -- T. G. Yuncker
Description:

Author: Scott A. Mori

Type: Honduras. Atlantida: vicinity La Ceiba, lower slopes of Mt. Cangrejal, 6 Aug 1938 (fr), T. G. Yuncker et al. 8829 (holotype, F; isotypes, BM, K, MO, NY)

Description: Usually understory, infrequently canopy trees to 35 m tall. Bark smooth (fide Zamora 1284). Leaves: petioles 7-12 mm long; blades widely elliptic to narrowly elliptic, 12-21 x 4-7 cm, chartaceous, glabrous, the base acute to obtuse, the margins entire, the apex acuminate; secondary veins in 9-12 pairs, not impressed adaxially. Inflorescences axillary or terminal (suprafoliar), sometimes from below leaves (ramiflorous), unbranched, the rachis 0.5-6 cm long glabrous to puberulous, lenticellate; pedicel/hypanthium 10-15 mm long above articulation, glabrous to puberulous, not markedly lenticellate. Flowers 3-5 cm diam.; hypanthium tapered to articulation, glabrous; calyx with lobes very ovate to widely ovate, 4-6 x 4-5 mm, orientation at anthesis not known, not thick, plane to convex abaxially, not gibbous at base, the bases imbricate; petals white or yellow; androecial hood with double coil, yellow. Fruits 3 cm diam., cup-shaped (without operculum) to globose (including operculum), the calycine ring persisting as separate woody lobes, the supracalycine zone erect, the infracalycine zone rounded to pedicel, the pericarp 3 mm thick, woody, lenticellate, the operculum convex, umbonate but not markedly so. Seeds with lateral aril.

Common names: None recorded

Distribution: Collections have been made in Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama.

Ecology: An understory tree of non-flooed primary forest, often collected on the lower slopes of low mountains at below 500 m elevation.

Phenology: Collected in flower in Apr, May, and Aug in Honduras; Sep, Oct, and Dec in Costa Rica; and in Apr in Panama. Immature fruit has been collected in Feb in Honduras; Dec and Mar in Costa Rica; and May in Panama.

Pollination: No reports are recorded but bees seeking nectar are probably the most important pollinators.

Dispersal: The seeds have a lateral aril which is probably eaten by animals but there are no observations on seed dispersal.

Predation: No observations recorded.

Field characters: Eschweilera hondurensis is characterized by its unbranched inflorescences; white petals; double-coiled, yellow androecial hood; oblong , imbricate calyx-lobes; fruits with persistent calyx-lobes, and seeds with a lateral aril.

Taxonomic notes: The collections from the Osa Peninsula have shorter, thicker pedicels (see images of Aguilar 11128 attached to that collection) than those of the collections from Heredia (see images of Solano 2353 attached to that collection). In addition, the trunk of the Osa collection is lighter in color and more irregular at the base on the Osa (see images of Aguilar 11128 attached to that collection) than it is in Heredia (see images of Solano 2353 attached to that collection).

Conservation: IUCN Red List: Not on list.

Uses: None recorded.

Etymology: This species is named after the country in which the type was collected.

Source: This species page is based on Mori in Mori & Prance, 1990.

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to R. Aguilar and D. Solano for allowing us to use their images to illustrate the characters of this species.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Eschweilera hondurensis Standl.: [Article] 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.