Guarea carinata Ducke

Authority

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

Family

Meliaceae

Scientific Name

Guarea carinata Ducke

Type

Type. Ducke 1060, Brazil, Amazonas, Esperança, (mouth of R. Javari), fr (holotype, RB; isotypes, K, MG, NY, US).

Description

Species Description - Young branches golden tomentose at first soon glabrous, very stout and developing a soft suberous, longitudinally-fissured bark 1-2 mm thick. Leaves pinnate with a terminal bud showing intermittent growth, to 35(-100) cm long; petiole semiterete, rhachis terete, tomentose at first becoming glabrous and suberous; petiolule 2-6(-8) mm long. Leaflets to 10 pairs, usually oblong less frequently elliptic or oblanceolate, apex attenuate, short acuminate, obtuse, or truncate sometimes obtusely cuspidate, base acute, attenuate, rounded or truncate, chartaceous, 12-27 cm long, 5.8-9(-12) cm broad, lowest often much shorter and broader, upper surface glabrous except for tomentose to pubescent midrib, lower midrib densely pubescent with rather coarse crisped hairs, sparser on lamina, sometimes obscurely glandular punctate and striate; venation eucamptodromous or brochidodromous, midrib sunken; secondaries (14-) 16-20 on either side of midrib, ascending, arcuate above, parallel; intersecondaries short; tertiaries moderately prominent, oblique, parallel. Flowers unisexual, plants dioecious; inflorescence axillary or in axils of fallen leaves, 2-10.5 cm long, lower branches to 2.5 cm long or unbranched, flowers in small sessile clusters subtended by bracts, rather densely-flowered, tomentose; pedicel 1-2 mm long or flowers sessile. Calyx cyathiform, 3-7 mm long, with (3-)4 triangular or ovate lobes 1-3(-5) mm long, densely pubescent to tomentose outside. Petals 4(-5), valvate, 14-17 mm long, 2-4(-5) mm broad, strap-shaped, apex acute, densely golden strigose outside, glabrous inside. Staminal tube 11-13 mm long, 3-4(-5) mm broad, margin undulate or crenulate, glabrous; anthers 8-11, 1.5-1.8(-2) mm long; antherodes similar but narrower, not dehiscing, without pollen. Nectary a stout stipe expanded to form an annulus below ovary, 1.5-2 mm long, glabrous. Ovary (4-)5-6(-9)-locular, loculi with 2 superposed ovules, densely strigose; style glabrous above. Pistillode similar, with well-developed abortive ovules. Capsule depressed globose to pyriform sometimes apiculate, apex truncate, base rounded or tapering, valves shallowly to prominently 3-ribbed, central rib longer than and often branched above and anastomosing with lateral ones, tomentose when young and pubescent at maturity, 3-4.8 cm long, 3-4.2 cm broad, 5-6(-9)-valved, valves with 2 superposed seeds; pericarp ca. 5 mm thick. Seed: upper truncate at base, lower truncate at apex, ca. 1.5 cm long, 0.9 cm broad, surrounded by a thin orange sarcotesta which is thickened adaxially; hilum ca. 1 cm long; seed coat thin but tough. Embryo with thick plano-convex, superposed cotyledons, impressed on adaxial side; radicle abaxial, extending to surface.

Discussion

The most striking feature of this species is the large purplish-red carinate fruit which is borne in clusters of 2-6, usually on the leafless part of the twigs and branches. The thick pericarp is tough but fleshy.

Field Characters: A tree to 20 m high, with soft brown suberous bark scaling in thin irregular patches. The twigs and branches also become strongly suberized and the corky bark is often inhabited by small ants. The flowers have a green or red calyx and the corolla and staminal tube are cream-coloured.

Phenology: The species flowers in July and August and the fruit matures from October to January.

Distribution

Known only from Brazilian Amazonia where it is recorded from a few widely separated localities and also from one collection in Surinam. It is a tree of non-flooded lowland forest.

Suriname South America| Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America|