Rinorea apiculata Hekking

  • Authority

    Hekking, W. H. A. 1988. violaceae Part l—Rinorea and Rinoreocarpus. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 46: i-ii, 1-208. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Violaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Rinorea apiculata Hekking

  • Type

    Type. Perú. Huánuco: Pendencia, 900 m, 18 Sep 1962 (fl, juv fr), Woytkowski 7356 (holotype, F; isotypes, MO, K).

  • Description

    Species Description - Treelet 3-30 m tall. Branchlets minutely pilosulous or pruinose. Leaves alternate; petioles (3-)7-13 mm long, minutely pilosulous to glabrescent; stipules deciduous, ovate, mucronulate, 3-5 x 1-3 mm, herbaceous, glabrescent, ciliolate; lamina elliptic, ovate or obovate, acuminate to cuspidate, (6-)8.5-21 x (2.5-)4-8.5 cm, subcoriaceous, glabrous on both sides; costa and lateral veins glabrous above, densely minutely pilosulous beneath; lateral veins 7-11(-14) pairs (acumen excluded); tertiary venation ± scalariform; base rounded to obtuse; margin subentire, subcrenate or subserrate, mucronulate; acumen 0.75-4 cm long, apex obtuse, mucronulate. Inflorescences axillary, lateral or subterminal, 1-3 fasciculate, narrowly thyrsoid, 4.5-9(-15) x 1.5-2 cm; central axis pilosulous; cymules 1-3 flowered; common peduncle 2-6(-8) mm long, pilosulous; pedicels 1-2.5(-7.5) mm long, articulate at ½-2/3 from the base, pilosulous; bracts and bractlets, ovate to deltoid, herbaceous, haired to glabrous, margin scarious, ciliolate, apex subacute and mucronulate; bracts 0.75-1 x 0.4-0.8 mm; bractlets subopposite or alternate, 0.25-0.75 x 0.25-0.5(-0.75) mm. Flower buds orbicular. Flowers drooping or pendulous, greenish, whitish or pale yellow. Sepals subequal, ovate, 1-1.5(-2) x 0.75-1.25(-l.75) mm, herbaceous, outside completely glabrous, inside usually villose at the base, margin scarious, ciliolate, apex obtuse to rounded. Petals ovate, 2.5-4 x 1.5-2 mm, herbaceous, glabrous, margin scarious and ciliolate, apex obtuse. Stamens 2-3.25 mm long; apical parts of filaments free, 0.2-0.5 x 0.1-0.2 mm; filamental tube glandular, 0.3-0.5 mm high, carnose, 5-sinuate to 10-denticulate sparsely pilosulous to glabrescent; anthers ellipsoid, 0.75-1.5 x 0.5-1 mm, barbate at the base, apex unappendaged; connective outside, narrowly ovate to linear, 0.5- 0.75 x 0.1-0.25 mm, barbate at the base; connective scales exclusively apical, ± orbicular, 0.75-1.5 mm long and wide, usually equaling the anthers, scarious, orange-brown, margin erose to fringed, apex rounded and fringed. Ovary subglobose, 0.75-1.25 mm diameter, glabrous; ovules one per placenta. Style filiform, slightly curved, 1.5-2 mm long, exceeding the stamens by 0.25 mm, completely glabrous; stigma truncate or pulvinate. Capsule usually asymmetric, orbicular, acuminate, subtended by subpersistent floral parts, coriaceous, glabrous, smooth; three valves, unequal, 6-7 x 2.5-3.5 mm, style often subpersistent at the apex of one of the valves. Seeds one per valve, globose, ca. 3 mm diam., glabrous, shining.

  • Discussion

    Rinorea apiculata differs from R. crenata and R. oraria mainly by (1) leaves 2-2.5 x as long as wide (against 2.5-3 x); (2) inflorescences nearly pseudoracemose with cymules containing 1-3 flowers; and (3) connective scales equaling the thecae (in R. crenata longer and in R. oraria shorter than the thecae).

    Two deviating specimens have been observed in Rinorea apiculata: Berg 1258 from Ecuador: leaves tending to coriaceous; lateral veins more pronounced and numbering up to 10-14 lateral veins; Jaramillo & Coello 2598 from Ecuador: flowers and floral parts 1.5-2 x as long as normally seen in other specimens. Its petals are also densely pilosulous inside and sparsely pilosulous along the costa outside; the margin is distinctly ciliolate.

    The description of Rinorea cf. roureoides Woodson in C. H. Dodson and A. H. Gentry (1978) for the Flora of the Rio Palenque (Ecuador) does not refer to R. roureoides, synonym of R. crenata, but to R. apiculata. Indeed, Rinorea crenata is most closely related to R. apiculata. However, the species are geographically separated from each other, since both are wanting in the interjacent Andean region of Colombia. If intermediate specimens should be found in the Colombian area, the possibility of reuniting both species, as varieties or different populations of R. crenata, is not excluded.

    Distribution and Ecology: Flowering specimens have been collected in January, Feburary, June, August, September, December; fruiting specimens in October and December. Probably flowering and fruiting throughout the year. Ecuador and Peru, on both sides of the Cordilleras, mainly in tropical rain forests at 125-900 m, including the following forest refuges: (a) W of the Cordilleras: Chimborazo-West; (b) E of the Cordilleras: Loreto, Napo, Ucayali and Inambari. Soil lateritic

  • Distribution

    Ecuador South America| Esmeraldas Ecuador South America| Los Ríos Ecuador South America| Napo Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Huánuco Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Madre de Dios Peru South America|