Trichilia blanchetii 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 blanchetii C.DC.

  • Type

    Type. Blanchet 1884, Brazil, Bahia, near Ilheus, fl (lectotype, K, here designated; isolectotype, G, P).

  • Synonyms

    Trichilia tweediana C.DC.

  • Description

    Species Description - Young branches strigulose with dibrachiate hairs soon glabrous, mid- or grey-brown. Bud scales absent. Leaves unifoliolate, petiole ca. 2 cm long, semiterete, minutely strigulose or glabrous. Leaflets oblong to broadly elliptic, apex shortly narrowly attenuate, base narrowly attenuate to obtuse or rounded, chartaceous, 11-14[12.5] cm long, 4-6[5] cm broad, glabrous, glandular-punctate and -striate or not; venation eucamptodromous or brochidodromous, midrib prominent; secondaries 11-12 on either side of midrib, ascending, arcuate above, ± parallel; intersecondaries long; tertiaries faint. Inflorescence axillary, 1-2 cm long, a small few-flowered, thyrsoid panicle, sparsely strigulose to subglabrous; pedicel 0.5-1 mm long. Calyx patelliform or shallowly cyathiform, 0.5-1 mm long, with 4-5 very shallow lobes or margin subtruncate, subglabrous. Petals 4-5, free, valvate or slightly imbricate, spreading, 2.5-3 mm long, 0.75-1 mm broad, lanceolate, apex acute, glabrous. Staminal tube cyathiform to shortly cylindrical; filaments completely fused, ca. 1.25 mm long, ca. 1 mm broad, margin with 7-8 short acute lobes alternating with anthers and ca. 1/3 their length, glabrous or with a few scattered hairs in throat; anthers 7-8, 0.5-0.8 mm long, glabrous. Nectary absent or represented by an indistinct swelling around base of ovary. Ovary ovoid, 3-locular, loculi with 2 collateral ovules, sparsely appressed puberulous; style glabrous; style-head capitate equalling base of anthers. Fruit unknown.

  • Discussion

    Relationships

    Trichilia blanchetii is superficially similar to the two other unifoliolate species of Trichilia, T. singularis and T. acuminata. It differs from the latter in a number of floral characters; flowers pedicellate (sessile in T. acuminata); petals free, glabrous (fused for about 1/2 their length, strigulose in T. acuminate); anthers 7-8 (5-6 in T. acuminata). Trichilia singularis is characterized by an indumentum of medifixed hairs on the young parts and on the lower leaflet surface (young parts sparsely strigulose with dibrachiate hairs, leaves glabrous in T. blanchetii), and it also differs in the usually fused petals, (9-) 10(-11) anthers and bilocular ovary.

    The relationships of this species are to be found in the group of pinnate-leaved species with a similar floral structure and indumentum such as T. emarginata and T. silvatica.

    Trichilia tweediana is represented only by the fragmentary type specimen, which bears two trifoliolate leaves and a few very young flower buds. Dissection of the flower shows the typical structure of sect. Moschoxylum- five ± valvate free petals, complete staminal tube bearing seven anthers on the margin, absence of nectary and a small conical puberulous ovary whose fine structure could not be observed. As the inflorescence and floral structure are similar to that of T. blanchetii, I am including it here as a possible 3-foliolate form of that species, but its real affinities will not be known until more complete material is available.

  • Distribution

    Known only from a few collections in southern Bahia, Brazil, where it occurs in the coastal rain forest at low elevations.

    Brazil South America| Bahia Brazil South America|