Cochlospermum orinocense (Kunth) Steud.

  • Authority

    Poppendieck, Hans-Helmut. 1981. Cochlospermaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 27: 1-34. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Bixaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Cochlospermum orinocense (Kunth) Steud.

  • Type

    Type. Humboldt & Bonpland 1033 (holotype, P, n.v., microfiche seen; isotype, B-W). Venezuela. Prairial aux Orinoco. Ceiba? botuto ind. otomacorum. Tout le haut Orinoque. (fr.).

  • Synonyms

    Bombax orinocense Kunth, Wittelsbachia orinocensis (Kunth) Mart. & Zucc., Maximilianea orinocensis (Kunth) Kuntze, Cochlospermum parkeri Planch., Maximilianea parkeri (Planch.) Kuntze, Cochlospermum parviifolium Planch., Maximilianea parviifolia (Planch.) Kuntze, Cochlospermum wentii Pulle, Cochlospermum williamsii J.F.Macbr.

  • Description

    Species Description - Tree 7-14-30 m tall, trunk 15-60 cm in diam.; young branches brown to blackish; bark brown, tough, smooth, becoming whitish. Leaves 9-21 × 10-28 cm, with 5-7 entire leaflets, acuminate with a short mucro, gradually narrowed towards the base but not petiolulate; central leaflet 9-21 × 3-8 cm, lateral ones smaller; firmly membranaceous, in vivo brilliant green above and dull green below; glabrous, occasionally minutely pubescent on the midribs on the lower surface; petiole glabrous, dark brown, sulcate, 12-32 cm long; stipules pubescent, brown, ca. 5 mm long. Inflorescence ca. 50 cm long, with up to 12 lateral branches arising from the axils of consecutively reduced foliage leaves, with reddish or copper pubescence. Flowers 10-11 cm in diam. Sepals densely velvety without, minutely pubescent within; outer sepals 15-20 × ca. 8 mm. Petals obovate, apically emarginate for ca. 1.5 cm. Filaments 5-20 mm long, yellow or tinged with red; anthers 2-3 × 0.6-0.8 mm, curved. Ovary globose, densely tomentose, ca. 6 mm in diam. Capsule erect, one or two on a lateral branch, rarely more than 5-6 borne in a single infructescence; fruit obpyriform in outline, 7-10 × 2.5-4.5 cm, apex obtuse or rounded, base attenuate into a sterile part 2-3 cm long; stalk 2.0-2.5 cm × 3-4 mm; outer valve tomentose; placentae straight, not incurved, more or less contiguous with each other; inner valve separating from but completely contiguous with the outer valve and the placentae, thus forming an inflated box with a narrow central opening, enclosing the numerous seeds. Seeds 5-7 cm in diam., with a fringe of fine, dense, reddish hairs ca. 1 cm long.

  • Discussion

    Local names and uses. There is a large number of vernacular names reported for this species (see p. 32), a number of which are also applied to C. regium and/ or C. vitifolium. Little is reported about the uses of this species. Its bark is said to be used in tying palm trunks together for native house construction in Para, Brazil.

    Cochlospermum orinocense differs from C. tetraporum in the larger flowers, the pubescence of the inflorescence, the sepals and the fruit. The capsule is erect, not pendent, in this species, and the seed hairs are twice as long but not as dense as those of the other species of the subgenus Diporandra.

    This species is very uniform throughout its range. The allegedly zygomorphic flowers of C. wentii and C. williamsii are no different than other collections of C. orinocense. It should be noted in this connection that in most species of Cochlospermum the flowers are zygomorphic in bud because of their unequal stamens which become equal at anthesis.

    The color of the fruit ranges from dark chocolate brown to copper tinged with green to dark olive. These differences are of no taxonomic significance, and are probably influenced by desiccation. All fruits become brownish when wet.

    There is one anomalous collection (Prance et al. 2992) which differs from the rest of the species in the seed hairs which are only 5 mm long, and therefore resemble those of C. tetraporum, and in the higher number of principal lateral nerves on the leaflets (ca. 24 instead of 11-15). This plant grew in "Varzea"-forest and not, as is usual for C. orinocense, on terra firme. Other collections from Acre do not share these characters.

    Distribution and Ecology: Widely distributed throughout the Amazon Basin and northern South America. It also occurs in eastern Panama and one collection (Ratter & Ramos 227) comes from as far south as the middle Braço Maior River in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Cochlospermum orinocense is confined to lowland regions, ranging in altitude from 30 to 300 m, occasionally up to 500 m in Colombia. It is found mostly in forests on terra firme, often along rivers, on rocky places, especially on granitic outcrops, and occurs also on disturbed sites like secondary woodland, roadsides or recently burned areas. It flowers usually during the dry period, but mostly from December to April north of the Equator, and from June to August in southern latitudes.

  • Distribution

    Panama Central America| Canal Zone Panamá Central America| Darién Panamá Central America| Colón Panama Central America| Colombia South America| Amazonas Colombia South America| Meta Colombia South America| Norte de Santander Colombia South America| Vichada Colombia South America| Vaupés Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Apure Venezuela South America| Zulia Venezuela South America| Sucre Venezuela South America| Monagas Venezuela South America| Delta Amacuro Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Amazonas Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America| Peru South America| Huánuco Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Brazil South America| Roraima Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Acre Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America| Mato Grosso Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Maranhão Brazil South America| Bolivia South America| Chuquisaca Bolivia South America| Argentina South America| Salta Argentina South America| Jujuy Argentina South America|