Monographs Details:
Authority:
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. (Published by NYBG Press)
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. (Published by NYBG Press)
Family:
Lecythidaceae
Lecythidaceae
Synonyms:
Lecythis couratari Spreng., Couratari panamensis Standl., Couratari pulchra Sandwith, Couratari bragancae R.Knuth
Lecythis couratari Spreng., Couratari panamensis Standl., Couratari pulchra Sandwith, Couratari bragancae R.Knuth
Description:
Description - Large trees, to 50 m tall, the trunk buttressed up to 7 m, the young branches shortly tomentellous, soon becoming glabrous with age. Leaf blades oblong, obovate-oblong to elliptic, 8-19 cm x 4-10 cm, thickly coriaceous, glabrous above or with sparse erect caducous pubescence, with dense stellate tomentellous pubescence beneath; midrib plane or impressed above, prominent beneath, stellate tomentellous on both surfaces; secondary veins 16-22 pairs, plane to slightly impressed above, extremely prominent and pubescent beneath, the tertiary venation extremely prominent and reticulate beneath; apex rounded retuse, or shortly and broadly blunt-acuminate; base roundly to broadly subcuneate; margins entire; petiole 13-25 mm long, tomentellous-puberulous, slightly canaliculate, not winged. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, little-branched panicles or racemes, the rachis and rachillae tomentellous, the bracts lanceolate, caducous, puberulous, to 13 mm long; pedicels 1-2 cm long, puberulous. Flowers when leafless; hypanthium campanulate, 2-3 mm long; calyx lobes triangular-ovate, 3-4 mm long, puberulous on both surfaces, the margins ciliate; petals oblong-spathulate, 2-3 cm long, slightly cucullate at apex, tomentellous on exterior, puberulous within, ciliate at apex, bright purple; androecium rose-purple, sparsely pubescent, ca. 3.3 cm long, the staminal ring ca. 12 mm in diam., the exterior of hood without appendages, the stamens 15-25, inserted around staminal ring in single row, a few nearly forming second row. Fruits cylindrical, rather triangular in cross section, broadest at middle, 12-17 x to 6 cm, smooth and lenticellate on exterior, the pericarp ca. 4 mm thick, hard and woody, the calycine ring ca. 15 mm below apex, with slight ridge at a few places around perimeter; operculum faintly grooved radially, without central depression, the columella triangular, 3-grooved. Seeds oblong-lanceolate, symmetrical. Seedling cotyledons round, 2-4 cm long, the first leaves alternate, oblong-elliptic.
Description - Large trees, to 50 m tall, the trunk buttressed up to 7 m, the young branches shortly tomentellous, soon becoming glabrous with age. Leaf blades oblong, obovate-oblong to elliptic, 8-19 cm x 4-10 cm, thickly coriaceous, glabrous above or with sparse erect caducous pubescence, with dense stellate tomentellous pubescence beneath; midrib plane or impressed above, prominent beneath, stellate tomentellous on both surfaces; secondary veins 16-22 pairs, plane to slightly impressed above, extremely prominent and pubescent beneath, the tertiary venation extremely prominent and reticulate beneath; apex rounded retuse, or shortly and broadly blunt-acuminate; base roundly to broadly subcuneate; margins entire; petiole 13-25 mm long, tomentellous-puberulous, slightly canaliculate, not winged. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, little-branched panicles or racemes, the rachis and rachillae tomentellous, the bracts lanceolate, caducous, puberulous, to 13 mm long; pedicels 1-2 cm long, puberulous. Flowers when leafless; hypanthium campanulate, 2-3 mm long; calyx lobes triangular-ovate, 3-4 mm long, puberulous on both surfaces, the margins ciliate; petals oblong-spathulate, 2-3 cm long, slightly cucullate at apex, tomentellous on exterior, puberulous within, ciliate at apex, bright purple; androecium rose-purple, sparsely pubescent, ca. 3.3 cm long, the staminal ring ca. 12 mm in diam., the exterior of hood without appendages, the stamens 15-25, inserted around staminal ring in single row, a few nearly forming second row. Fruits cylindrical, rather triangular in cross section, broadest at middle, 12-17 x to 6 cm, smooth and lenticellate on exterior, the pericarp ca. 4 mm thick, hard and woody, the calycine ring ca. 15 mm below apex, with slight ridge at a few places around perimeter; operculum faintly grooved radially, without central depression, the columella triangular, 3-grooved. Seeds oblong-lanceolate, symmetrical. Seedling cotyledons round, 2-4 cm long, the first leaves alternate, oblong-elliptic.
Discussion:
The inner bark is used for cigars by Indians and natives in the Guianas and Venezuela. The wood is readily workable.The exact identity of Aublet’s Couratari guianensis has remained uncertain for many years. This is not surprising because it was described from mixed material. This poses a problem in the typification of the genus because the leaves described by Aublet belong to Lecythis poiteaui Berg and the fruit belongs to Couratari. Since the fruits possess many of the generic characters used to distinguish Couratari, I have taken it as the representative part of the species. Most previous authors have consulted only the leaves of the Aublet specimen at the British Museum. While sorting through the carpological collection at BM, I found a fruit labelled “Couratari guianensis, Aubl. t. 290” (Fig. 53). This fruit matches well with the Aublet illustrations except that it lacks the operculum and seed illustrated by Aublet. It also matches Miers’ (1874) figure from Aublet’s fruit which he cites as belonging to the British Museum. Consequently, there is little doubt that the fruit is authentic Aublet material. It is not surprising that it is lacking the operculum and seeds as the fruit was found loose in a drawer of unsorted Lecythidaceae fruit. The Aublet fruit matches well that of the species commonly known as Couratari pulchra Sandw. It has the characteristic parallel longitudinal fibers under the outer bark. Furthermore, C. pulchra is the only other species with this type of large woody Pyxidium that has been re-collected in French Guiana. Hence, this widespread species, usually known as C. pulchra, must now be called C. guianensis.There have been several previous attempts to place Couratari guianensis, all of which differ from my interpretation. Richard (1824) gave a detailed and illustrated description of what he considered to be the flowers of Aublet’s species. He, in fact, described the flowers of a species of Eschweilera as was pointed out by Sagot (1885) and Eyma (1932).Sagot (1885) interpreted the flowers of his collection 271 (the type of Allantoma subramosa Miers) as representative of C. guianensis. The leafless flowering branches of the Sagot collection match C. multiflora which has fruit entirely different from C. guianensis. The Sagot collection was a mixed gathering as Sagot (1885) himself pointed out that the flowering branches of his collection were mixed with unattached leaves of C. guianensis. This mixture caused Miers to describe the Sagot collection as a new species of Allantoma which is considered here as a synonym of Couratari multiflora.Knuth (1939) united Couratari multiflora (Smith) Eyma with C. guianensis. This was an incorrect interpretation because C. multiflora has a small coriaceous Pyxidium rather than the large woody one of C. guianensis. In addition, the flowers of the two species are completely different.There is considerable variation in the fruits of C. guianensis (Fig. 54). For example, the fruits of C. guianensis and C. panamensis represent variants of the same species. This is supported by many recent Colombian collections which demonstrate the intergradation between these two populations. Consequently, C. panamensis cannot be considered as a distinct species.
The inner bark is used for cigars by Indians and natives in the Guianas and Venezuela. The wood is readily workable.The exact identity of Aublet’s Couratari guianensis has remained uncertain for many years. This is not surprising because it was described from mixed material. This poses a problem in the typification of the genus because the leaves described by Aublet belong to Lecythis poiteaui Berg and the fruit belongs to Couratari. Since the fruits possess many of the generic characters used to distinguish Couratari, I have taken it as the representative part of the species. Most previous authors have consulted only the leaves of the Aublet specimen at the British Museum. While sorting through the carpological collection at BM, I found a fruit labelled “Couratari guianensis, Aubl. t. 290” (Fig. 53). This fruit matches well with the Aublet illustrations except that it lacks the operculum and seed illustrated by Aublet. It also matches Miers’ (1874) figure from Aublet’s fruit which he cites as belonging to the British Museum. Consequently, there is little doubt that the fruit is authentic Aublet material. It is not surprising that it is lacking the operculum and seeds as the fruit was found loose in a drawer of unsorted Lecythidaceae fruit. The Aublet fruit matches well that of the species commonly known as Couratari pulchra Sandw. It has the characteristic parallel longitudinal fibers under the outer bark. Furthermore, C. pulchra is the only other species with this type of large woody Pyxidium that has been re-collected in French Guiana. Hence, this widespread species, usually known as C. pulchra, must now be called C. guianensis.There have been several previous attempts to place Couratari guianensis, all of which differ from my interpretation. Richard (1824) gave a detailed and illustrated description of what he considered to be the flowers of Aublet’s species. He, in fact, described the flowers of a species of Eschweilera as was pointed out by Sagot (1885) and Eyma (1932).Sagot (1885) interpreted the flowers of his collection 271 (the type of Allantoma subramosa Miers) as representative of C. guianensis. The leafless flowering branches of the Sagot collection match C. multiflora which has fruit entirely different from C. guianensis. The Sagot collection was a mixed gathering as Sagot (1885) himself pointed out that the flowering branches of his collection were mixed with unattached leaves of C. guianensis. This mixture caused Miers to describe the Sagot collection as a new species of Allantoma which is considered here as a synonym of Couratari multiflora.Knuth (1939) united Couratari multiflora (Smith) Eyma with C. guianensis. This was an incorrect interpretation because C. multiflora has a small coriaceous Pyxidium rather than the large woody one of C. guianensis. In addition, the flowers of the two species are completely different.There is considerable variation in the fruits of C. guianensis (Fig. 54). For example, the fruits of C. guianensis and C. panamensis represent variants of the same species. This is supported by many recent Colombian collections which demonstrate the intergradation between these two populations. Consequently, C. panamensis cannot be considered as a distinct species.
Distribution:
Costa Rica South America| Puntarenas Costa Rica Central America| Canal Zone Panamá Central America| Colón Panama Central America| Darién Panamá Central America| Panamá Panama Central America| Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America| Bolívar Colombia South America| Chocó Colombia South America| Santander Colombia South America| Valle Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Delta Amacuro Venezuela South America| Monagas Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Saül French Guiana South America| Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Pasco Peru South America| Brazil South America| Acre Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America|
Costa Rica South America| Puntarenas Costa Rica Central America| Canal Zone Panamá Central America| Colón Panama Central America| Darién Panamá Central America| Panamá Panama Central America| Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America| Bolívar Colombia South America| Chocó Colombia South America| Santander Colombia South America| Valle Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Delta Amacuro Venezuela South America| Monagas Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Saül French Guiana South America| Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Pasco Peru South America| Brazil South America| Acre Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America|
Common Names:
coco, coco de mono, coquito, coco bianco, coco ca-beyo, coco manteco, guasco, cachimbo, capa de tabaco, coco de mono, tapa tabaco, wadara, Ingipipa, kalioe oele-maliti, ksipoeloe oelimari, watara, ingui-pipa, mahot-cigare, Tauarí, honto-neakusisi
coco, coco de mono, coquito, coco bianco, coco ca-beyo, coco manteco, guasco, cachimbo, capa de tabaco, coco de mono, tapa tabaco, wadara, Ingipipa, kalioe oele-maliti, ksipoeloe oelimari, watara, ingui-pipa, mahot-cigare, Tauarí, honto-neakusisi