Rinorea racemosa (Mart.) Kuntze

  • 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 racemosa (Mart.) Kuntze

  • Type

    Type. Brazil. Amazonas: Tefé, on the border of the Rio Solimões, s.d. (fl, fragm fr), Martius s.n. (lectotypus novus, M (178); isotypes (?), M (119, 120, 121, 130, 131, 132, 143, numbers written on small labels attached to the specimens).

  • Synonyms

    Alsodeia racemosa Mart., Conohoria racemosa (Mart.) G.Don, Rinorea japurana (Meisn.) R.A.Howard, Alsodeia japurana (Meisn.) Radlk., Coccoloba japurana Meisn.

  • Description

    Species Description - Tree or treelet, 3-30 m tall. Branchlets (sparsely) ferruginous appressed pilosulous when young, glabrescent when older. Leaves apparently opposite; petioles 3-18 mm long, glabrous above, ferruginous pilose(ulous) beneath when young, glabrescent when older; stipules deciduous, narrowly deltoid, subacute, 2.25-4 x 1-1.25 mm, herbaceous, ferruginous pilosulous, ciliolate; lamina (narrowly) elliptic to (ob)ovate, acuminate, 6-29 cm long, 2.5-11.5 cm wide, usually papery, sometimes coriaceous or herbaceous, glabrous above, densely appressed whitish pilosulous beneath; costa slightly puberulous above near the base, lateral veins nearly so; domatia sometimes present; lateral veins 11-21 pairs (acumen excluded); tertiary venation scalariform; base rounded to cuneate; margin (sub)entire; acumen 0.25-2.5 mm long, apex subobtuse to subacute, mucronulate. Inflorescences axillary, lateral and subterminal, solitary, narrowly thyrsoid, 7.75-27.5 x 0.5-2 cm; central axis greenish when fresh, appressed whitish, golden or ferruginous pilosulous; cymules 1-7 flowered; common peduncle 0.5-5.5 mm long, golden to whitish pilosulous; ‘pedicels’ 0.5-4.25 mm long, articulate below the middle, golden to whitish pilosulous; bracts and bractlets ovate to deltoid, herbaceous, golden to whitish strigillose, cili(ol)ate, apex subacute; bracts 0.5-1.25 x 0.75-1.25 mm; bractlets 0.25-1.25 x 0.5-1.25 mm. Flower buds ovoid, obtuse, greenish-white. Flowers pendulous, creamy to yellowish-white, rarely tending to orange, fragrant. Sepals subequal, ovate, 1-2 x 0.75-1.25 mm, herbaceous, yellowish when fresh, pilosulous along the costa outside, sometimes also pilosulous inside, margin cili(ol)ate, especially near the base, apex obtuse. Petals elliptic to ovate, 1.75-2.25 x 0.75-1.25 mm, herbaceous, sometimes yellowish pilosulous along the costa, margin cili(ol)ate especially near the base, apex rounded to obtuse. Stamens 1.25-1.75 mm long; filaments nearly completely fused to a tube; apical part free, 0.20.35 x 0.1-0.2 mm, glabrous; filamental tube 0.2-0.3 mm high, sinuate, ciliolate; dorsal glands completely fused with the tube; anthers ellipsoid 0.5-0.75 x 0.25-0.75 mm, glabrous, apex obtuse, usually appendaged by (l-)2 cusps or setae, both 0.1-0.4 x ca. 0.05 mm; connective outside (narrowly) deltoid, obtuse, 0.3-0.4 x ca. 0.2 mm, glabrous; connective scales lateral as well as apical, ovate, 1-1.5 x 0.4-0.8 mm, scarious, brownish, glabrous, margin subentire, apex obtuse and erose. Ovary subglobose to trapezoid, 0.6-0.9 x 0.3-0.6 mm, glabrous; ovules one, occasionally two, per placenta. Style, more or less sigmoid at the base, thickened near the base, tapering to the apex, 0.75-1 mm long, ± equaling the stamens; stigma truncate or acuminate. Capsule usually asymmetric, suborbicular, subtended by subpersistent floral parts, coriaceous, glabrous, greenish, yellowish, reddish-brown or maroon when fresh; valves three, usually unequal, the larger one 0.6-1 x 0.5-0.6 cm, the two smaller ones 0.4-0.7 x 0.2-0.5 cm. Seeds one, occasionally two, per valve, subglobose, 4-4.25 x 3.5-4 mm, glabrous, shining.

  • Discussion

    Rinorea racemosa differs from R. sprucei and R. vaupesana by: (1) 11-21 pairs of lateral veins (versus 9-16); (2) its smaller flowers as expressed by its smaller petals shorter than 2.5 mm; and (3) its connective scales shorter than 1.5 mm. The ovary and capsule of R. racemosa and R. sprucei are glabrous, those of R. vaupesana distinctly hairy.

    Alsodeia (=Rinorea) racemosa cited by Bentham in an “Enumeration of Plants collected by Mr (Robert Hermann) Schomburgk” (1842:107) as occurring in British Guiana, with a specimen (R. H.) Schomburgk 947 (1840) collected along the Rio Negro is not this species, but R. sprucei. The collecting locality was not British Guiana, but Brazil (Amazonas).

    Specimens of Alsodeia (=Rinorea) racemosa without collection numbers cited by Klotzsch in Moritz Richard Schomburgk, Reisen in Britisch-Guiana 1849 (‘ 1848’), as occurring along the Rupununi, the Takutu and the Rio Branco, have not been found by the present author in the Kew Herbarium (K) (cf. Sandwith, 1955) nor in the herbarium of the British Museum (BM).

    Exotanthera racemosa Turczaninoff (1854) does not belong either to Rinorea racemosa or to R. sprucei, but to the genus Anchietea (Vio-laceae).

    Alsodeia racemosa J. D. Hooker & Thomson in Flora of British Indial: 187.May 1872 (‘1875’) is a quite different species and a later homonym; the use of this homonym is illegitimate.

    Distribution and Ecology: Rinorea racemosa is widespread over South America (SE Colombia, S Venezuela, N Peru, Brazil), but is not known from the Guianas. An undergrowth tree in primary, secondary or disturbed tropical rain forests in lowlands and submontainous regions from 0 to 700 m. Occurs on hills, in gullies and along rivers, streams and creeks. In lowlands prefers uninundated areas. Grows in soils derived from quartzite base, limestones, white sands and yellowish clayish soils. Flowering and fruiting specimens have been collected during the period June-March.

  • Common Names

    Majaras-caspi/caspu, Najaras-caspi, Uuwallomuche, Pao Branco

  • Distribution

    Colombia South America| Amazonas Colombia South America| Vaupés Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Amazonas Venezuela South America| Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Mato Grosso Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America| Roraima Brazil South America| Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America|