Monographs Details:
Authority:
Mori, S. A. 1987. The Lecythidaceae of a lowland Neotropical Forest: La Fumée mountain, French Guiana. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 44: 1-190.
Mori, S. A. 1987. The Lecythidaceae of a lowland Neotropical Forest: La Fumée mountain, French Guiana. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 44: 1-190.
Family:
Menispermaceae
Menispermaceae
Description:
Species Description - Glabrous vines of unknown length, the furrowed, lenticellate young branches up to 6 mm diam, the trunk probably thicker; petiole 4.5-7.5 cm long, twisted but little thickened at base; leaf-blade membranous, dull green above, paler beneath, dull both sides, broadly ovate-acuminate, 8-11.5 cm long, 5.5-8.5 cm wide, broadly and shortly flabellate at insertion of the petiole, across the base truncate or shallowly cordate, the sinus at most 5 mm deep, the basal angles very broadly rounded, the acumen 7-15 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, apiculate by the excurrent costa; primary venation palmate, of 5 nerves divergent from the base, these immersed above, prominent beneath, the outer pair weak and short, the inner pair forked near middle of blade, the costa giving rise near or beyond middle to 1 pair of secondaries, the forks of the main veins beneath occupied by flask-shaped nectaries (either closed or opening by a pore), the reticulation faint, open, scarcely visible above, subimmersed beneath, the ultimate areoles >1 mm diam; inflorescence [male] not seen entire, simply racemose; flower [male]: sepals membranous, the 3 outer deltate-ovate, 0.6 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, the 3 inner broadly obovate-cuneate, concave, 2 mm long, 1.3-1.5 mm wide; petals 6, a trifle thicker than the sepals but hardly carnose, narrowly oblanceolate, involute, obtuse, 1.4-1.5 mm long, 0.4-0.5 mm wide; androecium 6-merous, 1.3 mm long, the filaments ± 1 mm long, the 3 outer free from the middle upward, the inner connate to the anthers, these erect, 0.3 mm long; inflorescence [female] borne on slender branch-lets usually leafless when the fruits ripen, simply racemose, ± 10-20-flowered, including the short peduncle 1-2 dm long, the fruiting pedicels stout, spreading, 9-15 mm long; flower [female] unknown; drupe oblong-ellipsoid, 17-22 mm long, 12-14 mm diam, the exocarp when fresh yellow or orange-yellow sometimes dotted with white, the pulpy mesocarp becoming towlike, persistent on the endocarp, the latter 15-17 mm long, 8.5-11.5 mm diam, obtusely low-ridged on the back but not at all aculeate or verrucose, the condylar aperture open, oblong-elliptic in outline, 8-11 mm long, 5-6.5 mm wide.
Species Description - Glabrous vines of unknown length, the furrowed, lenticellate young branches up to 6 mm diam, the trunk probably thicker; petiole 4.5-7.5 cm long, twisted but little thickened at base; leaf-blade membranous, dull green above, paler beneath, dull both sides, broadly ovate-acuminate, 8-11.5 cm long, 5.5-8.5 cm wide, broadly and shortly flabellate at insertion of the petiole, across the base truncate or shallowly cordate, the sinus at most 5 mm deep, the basal angles very broadly rounded, the acumen 7-15 mm long, 3-5 mm wide, apiculate by the excurrent costa; primary venation palmate, of 5 nerves divergent from the base, these immersed above, prominent beneath, the outer pair weak and short, the inner pair forked near middle of blade, the costa giving rise near or beyond middle to 1 pair of secondaries, the forks of the main veins beneath occupied by flask-shaped nectaries (either closed or opening by a pore), the reticulation faint, open, scarcely visible above, subimmersed beneath, the ultimate areoles >1 mm diam; inflorescence [male] not seen entire, simply racemose; flower [male]: sepals membranous, the 3 outer deltate-ovate, 0.6 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, the 3 inner broadly obovate-cuneate, concave, 2 mm long, 1.3-1.5 mm wide; petals 6, a trifle thicker than the sepals but hardly carnose, narrowly oblanceolate, involute, obtuse, 1.4-1.5 mm long, 0.4-0.5 mm wide; androecium 6-merous, 1.3 mm long, the filaments ± 1 mm long, the 3 outer free from the middle upward, the inner connate to the anthers, these erect, 0.3 mm long; inflorescence [female] borne on slender branch-lets usually leafless when the fruits ripen, simply racemose, ± 10-20-flowered, including the short peduncle 1-2 dm long, the fruiting pedicels stout, spreading, 9-15 mm long; flower [female] unknown; drupe oblong-ellipsoid, 17-22 mm long, 12-14 mm diam, the exocarp when fresh yellow or orange-yellow sometimes dotted with white, the pulpy mesocarp becoming towlike, persistent on the endocarp, the latter 15-17 mm long, 8.5-11.5 mm diam, obtusely low-ridged on the back but not at all aculeate or verrucose, the condylar aperture open, oblong-elliptic in outline, 8-11 mm long, 5-6.5 mm wide.
Discussion:
Type. “PANAMA. Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone, Armour House to second bay north, W. N. Bangham 541, September 3, 1929 . . .” (holotype [[female], fr.], F! isotype, A!). This species resembles the southern Brazilian Odontocarya acuparata and O. miersiana in general appearance and especially in texture of the leaf blades and in the porose intravenous nectaries, but differs in the great size of the drupes and endocarps, the latter with proportionately large condyle. I have not seen complete staminate inflorescences, but the individual flower differs little from that of O. acuparata. In its range of dispersal O. truncata is sympatric only with O. tamoides var canescens, easily distinguished by its basally cordate leaf-blades more or less densely pubescent along the veins or throughout, and by the larger drupes. The endocarp of O. tamoides is much smaller, crested on the back, and surrounded by a readily deciduous mesocarp.
Type. “PANAMA. Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone, Armour House to second bay north, W. N. Bangham 541, September 3, 1929 . . .” (holotype [[female], fr.], F! isotype, A!). This species resembles the southern Brazilian Odontocarya acuparata and O. miersiana in general appearance and especially in texture of the leaf blades and in the porose intravenous nectaries, but differs in the great size of the drupes and endocarps, the latter with proportionately large condyle. I have not seen complete staminate inflorescences, but the individual flower differs little from that of O. acuparata. In its range of dispersal O. truncata is sympatric only with O. tamoides var canescens, easily distinguished by its basally cordate leaf-blades more or less densely pubescent along the veins or throughout, and by the larger drupes. The endocarp of O. tamoides is much smaller, crested on the back, and surrounded by a readily deciduous mesocarp.
Distribution:
Costa Rica South America| Panama Central America| Colombia South America|
Costa Rica South America| Panama Central America| Colombia South America|