Trichilia casaretti C.DC.

  • Authority

    Pennington, Terence D. 1981. Meliaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 28: 1-359, 418-449, 459-470. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Meliaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Trichilia casaretti C.DC.

  • Type

    Type. Glaziou 3906, Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Corcovado, fl (lectotype C, here designated; isolectotype, P).

  • Synonyms

    Trichilia casaretti var. trifoliolata C.DC., Trichilia casaretti var. microphyllina C.DC., Trichilia oblonga C.DC., Trichilia albicans C.DC., Trichilia gracilis Loes.

  • Description

    Species Description - Young branches appressed puberulous or pubescent (trichomes basifixed), soon glabrous, brown with pale lenticels. Bud scales absent. Leaves imparipinnate or trifoliolate, 1.8-7.5 cm long; petiole and rhachis semiterete, usually broadened below insertion of leaflets, glabrous; petiolule 2-7 mm long (terminal to 12 mm). Leaflets opposite, 3-5(-11), elliptic, oblanceolate or sometimes lanceolate, apex acuminate or attenuate (often rounded in trifoliolate leaves), base usually asymmetric, narrowly attenuate, sometimes decurrent, chartaceous, (2.7-)4.7-10(-14)[7.6] cm long, (1.0-)1.4-4(-4.6)[2.8] cm broad, glabrous above, lower surface glabrous except for tufts of bearded hair in axils of secondary veins and midrib and sometimes scattered on lamina, finely glandular-punctate; venation eucamptodromous or brochidodromous, midrib flat or slightly prominent; secondaries 612 on either side of midrib, ascending, straight, or arcuate, parallel or slightly convergent; intersecondaries and tertiaries obscure. Inflorescence axillary, 3-7 cm long, a slender thyrse, lateral branches sometimes densely-flowered, glabrous; pedicel 1-1.5 mm long. Calyx patelliform to shallowly cyathiform, 0.5-1 mm long, with 5 broadly ovate or triangular, acute or obtuse lobes, 1/4-1/2 length of calyx, subglabrous or rarely sparsely ciliate, persistent in fruit. Petals 5(-6), free, imbricate, 2.5-4.5 mm long, 0.75-1.5 mm broad, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, apex acute, subglabrous. Staminal tube urceolate, cyathiform, or shortly cylindrical; filaments completely fused or occasionally free at apex, 1.5-3.5 mm long, 1-1.5 mm broad, margin with 9-10 acute appendages alternating with anthers and 1/3-2/3 their length (when filaments are free at apex then terminated by 2 short acute appendages), nearly always glabrous rarely with few hairs in throat; anthers 910, 0.7-0.8 mm long, glabrous. Nectary a small annulus fused to base of ovary, or absent. Ovary ovoid, 3-locular, loculi with 2 collateral ovules, glabrous; style usually short, stout and glabrous; style-head capitate-conical with 3 small pointed lobes. Capsule ellipsoid, apex truncate or emarginate, tapering to an acute or obtuse base, often drying with a short stipe, weakly verruculose and ± glabrous, 1.4-2.3 cm long, 1-1.3 cm broad, 3-valved; pericarp ca. 1 mm thick; endocarp thick-cartilaginous. Seed solitary in each valve or only 1 in each fruit, ca. 1.3 cm long, ca. 0.5 cm broad, tapering from near apex to base, partially surrounded by a thick fleshy arillode which envelops at least upper half of seed and sometimes extends further leaving only a small uncovered area on back of seed; arillode free except for attachment around apex of seed and along raphe; seed coat thin, soft. Embryo with plano-convex, collateral cotyledons, one cotyledon subdivided into small angular segments; radicle apical, extending to surface. Residual endosperm present.

  • Discussion

    Although T. casaretti is often confused with T. elegans subsp, richardiana in the herbarium, in the field they are quite distinct. Trichilia casaretti has thick fleshy, finely glandular-punctate leaflets with midrib and secondary veins prominent below. The leaflets of T. elegans subsp, richardiana are much thinner, and densely and coarsely glandular-striate and -punctate. The fruit of the two species is also different. That of T. casaretti is subglabrous, with a truncate or emarginate apex and conspicuous sunken sutures, while that of T. elegans is always densely granular-papillose often with puberulous or pubescent indumentum, its apex is usually acute and its sutures are inconspicuous and not sunken. These important differences in shape are often lost in drying.

    Both T. casaretti and T. elegans share the conspicuous tufts of long hair in the axils of the secondary veins and midrib, though in the former they are placed in sunken cavities and often distributed across the lower lamina. Their function is unknown, but it may be significant that T. casaretti was found (in Bahia) to be infested with small ants.

    Relationships. Trichilia casaretti belongs to the group of species containing T. elegans and T. pallens and shares with them the imparipinnate leaves with opposite leaflets; corolla of free, imbricate petals; and a glabrous ovary surrounded by a glabrous annular nectary. It differs from both however in the finely glandular-punctate leaves (punctate and striate in T. elegans and T. pallens), ± glabrous staminal tube, and the structure of the fruit.

    Field Character: Small tree to 10 m. The greenish-cream flowers are produced from December to January, and again in August. Mature fruit has been collected March to May and July to October. The ripe fruit is pale greenish-brown, and the arillode orange.

  • Distribution

    Lowland rain forest from Bahia southwards to northern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, often recorded from river banks.

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