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Additional Resources:

Family:

Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 12: 97-98. 1908

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Common Names:

repollito

Description:

Author: Scott A. Mori

Type: COSTA RICA. Alajuela, Plains of San Carlos, 15 Apr 1903 (fr), Cook & Doyle 95 (holotype, US -- herb. no. 473872).

Description: Understory to canopy trees. Bark brown, slightly fissured. Leaves: petioles 10-25 mm long x 3-4 mm diam., canaliculate; blades 15-39 x 5.5-15.5 cm, widely elliptic to oblong, chartaceous, black punctate abaxially, the punctae often conspicuous along midrib, the base acute to usually obtuse or rounded, the margins entire to finely crenulate, the apex short acuminate to acuminate; secondary veins in 10-19 pairs, the intersecondary veins conspicuous. Inflorescences from branches below leaves (ramiflorous), axillary, or suprafoliar, usually once-branched paniculate arrangements of racemes, the principal rachis 9-35 cm long, the secondary rachises well developed, to 40 cm long, all rachises more or less zig-zagged, markedly lenticellate, with persistent pedicel bases; pedicel/hypanthium 5-10 mm long, truncate at articulation, not sulcate, glabrous, lenticellate. Flowers 3-5 cm diam.; hypanthium abruptly constricted into pedicel, glabrous, drying brown to black; calyx with six lobes, the lobes very widely ovate, 3 x 2.5-4.5 mm, horizontally oriented at anthesis, thick, convex to carinate abaxially, the bases not imbricate; petals 6, white, yellowish-white, or yellow, sometimes tinged with purple (see attached image of Aguilar 10637); androecial hood with triple coil, white, tinged with yellow, especially at entrance into flower. Fruits 6-9 cm diam., depressed globose, the calycine ring conspicuous, forming continuous ring, the supracalycine zone oriented outward, the infracalycine zone truncate to pedicel, the pericarp 3-4 mm thick, somewhat soft and flexible, somewhat leathery, rough, lenticellate, the operculum convex. Seeds to 10 per fruit; aril spreading, white.

Common names: Costa Rica. Repollito.

Distribution: Veraguas, Panama and on the Atlantic and Pacific slopes of Costa Rica in the Provinces of Alajuela, Puntarenas, Limón, and San José. In wet forests from near sea level to 1000.

Phenology: Flowering collections have been gathered in Jan, Mar, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, and Dec. A collection made on 06 Oct 2007 (R. Aguilar 10637) in flower had mature fruits on 06 Apr 2006 (R. Aguilar et al. 11121), indicating that this species takes six months from flower to seed (see photos attached to the respective collections).

Pollination: The androecium is triple coiled and most likely produces nectar that attracts long-tongued bees.

Dispersal: The seeds are surrounded by a white, spreading aril that may attract animals.

Predation: A large hole in the fruit of this species (see attached image) is probably caused by a woodpecker. A video taken by Nelson Wisnick of a crimson-crested woodpecker perforated a similar hole in a Lecythis pisonis fruit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXYJb5oPd9s). It is not known if the bird preys upon larvae in the fruit or is preying upon the seeds or other tissue. These kinds of holes are not frequently seen in the fruits of Lecythidaceae.

Field characters: This species is characterized by its relatively large, widely elliptic to oblong leaves; branched, often well-developed, lenticellate inflorescences; very small, thick, horizontally oriented calyx-lobes; and seeds surrounded by a spreading aril (see attached images).

Taxonomic notes: The Petals are usually white but sometimes they may be tinged with yellow or even purple. Petals of Lecythidacae exposed to sun light tend to get a pink to purple tinge. This species was previously considered a synonym of Eschweilera calyculata but the branched inflorescences and very small calyx-lobes differ from the unbranched inflorescences and large, wide, and imbricate lobes of that species. Once I recognized that it was a distinct species, I had already given it tjhe name E. longirachis, which I placed in synonymy. Hence, collections of this species up to 7 May 2008 were mistakenly identified by me as E. longirachis.

Conservation: IUCN Red List: Not on list (March 2014).

Uses: None recorded.

Etymology: This species is most likely named in honor of Guy N. Collins, an American botanist who worked for the United States Department of Agriculture and travelled widely in Costa Rica (Stafleu & Cowan, 1976). Collins was a collabotor with O. F. Cook, the primary collector of the type (G. Davidse, 2008, pers. comm.).

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

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