Trichilia breviflora Blake & Standl.

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 breviflora Blake & Standl.

Type

Type. Mitchell 96, Honduras, Prov. Atlantida, near Tela, fl (holotype, US, n.v.; isotypes, BM, F, G, GH).

Synonyms

Trichilia privigna Standl. & Steyerm.

Description

Species Description - Young branches sparsely appressed puberulous (trichomes ± basifixed) becoming mid-brown or rarely greyish, rough, glabrous, with a few lenticels. Bud scales absent. Leaves unifoliolate, trifoliolate or rarely pinnate; petiole and rhachis 1.56 cm; petiole of unifoliolate leaves 0.8-2.5 cm long, petiole and rhachis semiterete, sparsely puberulous to glabrous; petiolule of lateral leaflets ca. 2 mm long. Leaflets opposite to alternate, 1-3(-4), elliptic to oblanceolate, apex usually acuminate less frequently obtusely cuspidate or shortly attenuate, base acute, cuneate or attenuate, chartaceous, lateral leaflets 3-8 cm long, 1.9-3.5 cm broad, terminal and unifoliolate leaflets 9-16 cm long, 3.5-7.5 cm broad, glabrous above or midrib sometimes sparsely puberulous, glabrous below, glandular-punctate and -striate; venation eucamptodromous, midrib nearly always prominent above, rarely ± flat; secondaries 9-12 on either side of midrib, ascending, arcuate to ± straight usually slightly convergent; intersecondaries short. Flowers unisexual, plants dioecious; [male] inflorescence axillary, 4-10 cm long, a slender few-flowered thyrsoid panicle with lateral branches to 1.5 cm, [female] inflorescence sometimes reduced to a simple raceme 1-2.5 cm long, subglabrous, pedicel 0.5-1 mm or rarely flowers subsessile. Calyx patelliform, 0.5-1 mm long, with 4-5 broadly triangular to ovate, acute to obtuse lobes, 1/3-1/2 length of calyx, scattered minutely puberulous to glabrous. Petals 4-5, fused 1/3-1/2 their length, valvate, 1.5-2 mm long, 0.5-0.75 mm broad, lanceolate, apex acute, outside with scattered minute appressed hairs or glabrous, inside glabrous. Staminal tube cyathiform; filaments completely fused, 0.75-1 mm long, 0.75-1.25 mm broad, margin with (4-)5 lanceolate or subulate lobes alternating with anthers, usually ca. 1/2 their length rarely equalling them, lobes sometimes subdivided to near base, glabrous; anthers (4-)5, 0.5-0.7 mm long, glabrous; antherodes shrunken, not dehiscent, without pollen. Nectary absent. Ovary ovoid, 2-locular, loculi with 2 collateral ovules, densely pubescent; style short, stout, glabrous; style-head minute capitate or discoid, no broader than style, below anthers in [male] flowers, equalling them in [female]. Pistillode similar with well-formed, non-functional ovules. Capsule narrowly ellipsoid to oblong, apex acute or obtuse, smooth or sparsely and irregularly weakly verrucose, with a few scattered crisped appressed hairs or glabrous, 1.6-2.3 cm long, 0.8-1 cm broad, 2-valved; pericarp 0.5-1 mm thick; endocarp thin, cartilaginous. Seeds 2, collateral in each fruit, 1.3-1.5 cm long, ca. 0.8 cm broad, plano-convex, completely surrounded by a thin fleshy arillode which also develops around aborted ovules; arillode prolonged to a point at apex of seed, free except for thin line of attachment from micropyle to raphe; seed coat membraneous. Embryo with plano-convex collateral cotyledons; radicle apical, included. Endosperm absent.

Discussion

Trichilia privigna Standley & Steyermark, described from the same area, differs from T. breviflora only in its trifoliolate leaves. In the discussion following the description of this species, the authors remark that in all characters except the number of leaflets it is so much like T. breviflora that it may only be a form of that species, but until intermediates (in leaflet number) between them are discovered, the species can stand as distinct. As there are no distributional or ecological differences between them, and as specimens intermediate in leaflet number are now known, T. privigna is here reduced to synonymy.

Field Characters: Small tree to 10 m with greenish or white flowers; fruit green turning red, exposing a black seed with a red arillode at maturity. Flowering and fruiting from March to June.

Distribution and Ecology: A species of lowland wet evergreen forest known only from a small area of northern Honduras and the Departments of Alta Verapaz and southern Petén, Guatemala and adjacent Belize. Croat 24172, fl, (MO). NW 1689: Petén, Dolores, Contreras 2262, 2818, fr, (S)., NW 1689: Petén, between R. Sebol & El Porvenir, Steyermark 45827, fl, (F, NY, US). Alta Verapaz, R. Icvolay, Steyermark 44728, st, (F). Alta Verapaz, R. Icvolay, Steyermark 44799, fr, (F). HONDURAS NW 1587: Atlantida, near Tela, Mitchell 96, fl, (BM, F, G, GH, US).

Distribution

Guatemala Central America| Alta Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Honduras Central America| Atlántida Honduras Central America|