Prance, Ghillean T. 1972. Rhabdodendraceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 11: 1-22. (Published by NYBG Press)
Rhabdodendraceae
Lecostemon amazonicum Benth., Lecostemon crassipes Benth., Rhabdodendron crassipes Huber, Rhavaoaendron crassipes var. cayenense Benth., Rhabdodendron duckei Huber, Rhabdodendron paniculatum Huber, Rhabdodendron longifolium Huber, Rhabdodendron arirambae Huber, Lecostemon sylvestre Gleason, Rhabdodendron sylvestre (Gleason) Maguire
Description - Trees to 15.0 m X 20.0 cm diameter, usually smaller, the young branches with scattered peltate hairs, with a thin hard bark, the wood with anomalous secondary phloem. Leaves oblanceolate, oblong to oblong-obovate, gradually narrowing from above middle to base, coriaceous, 20.0-39.0 cm long, 3.0-10.0 cm broad, the apex acute, acuminate or mucronate, most frequently with acumen 2.0-9.0 mm long, gradually narrowed to a cuneate base, glabrous above, with few scattered peltate hairs beneath, not rugose on surfaces; midrib plane to prominulous above, prominent beneath; primary veins 30-45 pairs, plane to prominulous above, prominulous beneath, anastomosing but not forming a conspicuous marginal nerve; petioles 1.5-3.5 cm long, with scattered peltate hairs, not winged, terete. Stipules absent. Inflorescences of axillary and sometimes terminal panicles or occasionally reduced to racemes, 9.0-17.0 cm long, sparsely peltate pubescent becoming glabrous with age. Bracts and bracteoles ovate to lanceolate, persistent, 1.0-2.0 mm long, chartaceous; pedicels 6.0-15.0 mm long, glabrescent, frequently recurved, often with 2 lanceolate bracteoles. Calyx-tube turbinate-campanulate, 2.0-4.0 mm long, the exterior glabrescent, the lobes small but distinct and apparent in young flowers only. Petals 5, oblong, 7.0-8.0 mm long, sepaloid, minutely punctate. Stamens ca 45, the filaments short and flattened, persisting after flowering and then recurved; anthers linear, ca 7.0 mm long, basifixed, caducous. Ovary globose, glabrous. Style arising from base of ovary to one side of it, elongate, the stigmatic surface long and linear. Fruit subglobose, 6.0-10.0 mm diameter; exocarp glabrous, smooth but wrinkled when dry; mesocarp very thin, fleshy; endocarp thin, bony; fragile, with median line of fracture, glabrous within.
Much of the synonymy given here for this species has already been suggested, e g by Ducke (1922), Sandwith (1943) and Prance (1968). However, Maguire (1948) and myself (Prance 1968) both recognized R. sylvestre and R. crassipes as distinct from R. amazonicum. I now have seen a larger amount of material, have studied the problem in the field, and have concluded that R. sylvestre and R. crassipes are not distinct from R. amazonicum. R. crassipes was distinguished from R. amazonicum by the broader more elliptic leaves with a less abrupt acumen, and the larger flowers. However, there is much variation in leaf shape and flower size, and there is a complete gradation in those characters and even within the same individual. It is possible to collect leaves similar to typical Lecostemon amazonicum at one height of the tree and those that have been called L. crassipes at another. Similarly L. sylvestre cannot be maintained nor can Bentham’s L. amazonicum variety cayenense. Thus for this single rather polymorphic species there are 6 synonyms.
Collected in flower June to October in the Guianas, August to December in Amazonia.
Guyana South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America|
Mabua, Powisitere, Batiputá