Nectandra salicifolia (Kunth) Nees

  • Authority

    Rohwer, Jens G. 1993. Lauraceae: . Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 60: 1-332. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Lauraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Nectandra salicifolia (Kunth) Nees

  • Type

    Type. Mexico. Guerrero: Acapulco, Humboldt & Bonpland 3880 (lectotype, P, here designated; isotypes, B, B-W 7788 & 7815).

  • Synonyms

    Ocotea salicifolia Kunth, Persea salicifolia (Knuth) Spreng., Nectandra sanguinea var. lanceolata Meisn., Nectandra loeseneri Mez, Nectandra cayoana Lundell

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrubs or trees, occasionally flowering when only 0.5 m tall, reaching up to 25 m (by far most collections from individuals of 3-12 m). Branchlets 5 cm below terminal bud ca. l-2.2(-3) mm in diam., roundish from the beginning or initially ± angular, quickly becoming roundish, indument consisting of usually short hairs (but sometimes reaching 0.5 mm), appressed to ascending, mostly ± whitish (occasionally brownish, rarely the shorter hairs erect), immediately below terminal bud moderately dense to subglabrous, ± quickly becoming sparser, finally glabrescent; terminal buds ± elongate, ca. 2-7(-9) mm long and ca. 0.5-1.3(-2) mm thick, usually ± densely covered with short to long hairs, mostly ± straight and whitish, appressed to ascending (occasionally not completely covered); bud often sprouting at anthesis. Petioles 4-14(-19) mm long, 0.8-2.2 mm thick, ± irregularly roundish below, flat to ± canaliculate above, occasionally with a central ridge, indument below ± as on twigs, (sub)glabrescent, denser to absent above. Leaves alternate, lanceolate to elliptic or oblong, widest ca. 2/5-3/5 from the base, (4-)6.5-17.5(-23.5) cm long, (1.1-)2.2-7(-8.5) cm wide, (1.7-)2-4.5(-5) times longer than wide, tip ± acuminate, rarely acute with a narrowly rounded apex, base attenuate to obtuse, margin flat to very narrowly recurved, midrib at least in its distal part ± convex to almost prominent above, level or in a slight impression, often ± flat or with a central furrow at the base (rarely impressed for ca. half of its length), (very) prominent below, secondary veins slightly raised to ± convex above, rarely flat, level or often in a slight impression, raised to prominent below, (3-)4-9(-10) pairs, diverging at (30-)35-65(-75)°, in mid-lamina running at an angle of (15-)20-50(-60)° to the midrib, tertiary venation mixed, usually with poorly defined per-currency, sometimes almost lineate, finer veinlets (almost) equally (in)distinct, level to raised above, ± raised below, rarely almost level. Indument consisting of short to (rarely) relatively long (up to 0.5 mm), ± appressed hairs (rarely ascending), very sparse above to glabrous from the beginning, initially (moderately) sparse below, axils of secondary veins usually with ± erect hairs (up to ca. 0.9 mm long), rarely glabrous, rarely such hairs also along midrib, mature leaves glabrescent above (sometimes except for base of midrib), subglabrescent below. Gland dots on both sides of mature leaves not visible to very distinct, but only rarely forming a slight "pinprick pattern" (see p. 14). Inflorescences usually both in the axils of foliage leaves and of cataphylls (sometimes only the former, rarely only the latter), ca. 0.3-1.4(-2.5) mm in diam. at the base, on a twig of 0.8-3 mm diam., (1.3-)2.5-12.5 (-16) cm long, reaching ca. 1/5 the length of the subtending leaf (or the closest foliage leaf) to almost twice its length; peduncle up to ca. 8 cm long, i.e., inflorescence occasionally branched from the base or peduncle reaching up to 2/3 of its length, lateral branches (0-)2-8(-10) below the terminal cluster of cymes, branched (0-)1-4(-5) times (in the Mexican state of Guerrero often botryoid), indument consisting of ± short hairs (occasionally up to 0.3 mm), appressed to erect, moderately sparse to absent on peduncle, moderately dense or sparser on receptacle. Pedicels 0.7-4.5(-7.5) mm long, 0.2-0.5 mm thick. Flowers (3.4-)4-8(-10) mm in diam., tepals elliptic to very elongate, ca. (1.2-)1.5-3.5(-5) mm long and ca. 0.8-1.6(-2.5) mm wide, with a ± moderately dense cover of ± fine, moderately short to long papillae on the inside surface, also with hairs towards the base. Stamens ca. 0.60.9 mm long including a hairy filament of 0.10.3 mm, anthers glabrous or papillose at the tip, usually with hairs on back side, in the outer whorls ± transverse-elliptic to roundish-squarish or -trapeziform (rarely in the second whorl longer than wide), broadly rounded to slightly emarginate at the tip, in the third whorl ± roundish-rectangular to -trapeziform, ± truncate to distinctly emarginate at the tip. Staminodes reaching ca. l/2-4/5 the length of the stamens, with a ± hairy filament and a usually distinct glandular head. Pistil ca. 0.9-1.6 mm long, glabrous, ovary ± ellipsoid to pyriform, style extremely short or reaching up to ca. 2/5 the length of the ovary, rarely up to 2/3 (see discussion). Receptacle very shallow, glabrous or ± hairy inside. Berry ellipsoid to subglobose, ca. 9-14 mm long and 812 mm in diam., cupule variable, shallowly bowl- or funnel-shaped to cup-shaped or obconical, ca. 1-5 mm high and ca. 3.5-7 mm in diam., pedicel slightly thickened to club-shaped and gradually merging into a rather shallow cupule.

  • Discussion

    Uses. The pale, moderately hard wood is used in construction. An unspecified medicinal use has been reported only once.

    Nectandra salicifolia is the catch-all species of the N. coriacea group. Morphologically, it borders on most other species within the group, and it includes a large number of often locally distinctive forms, which are, however, not separable on a larger geographic scale. Because of this variational pattern Mez (1889) treated this entity as a “species collectiva” (under the erroneous name of N. sanguinea, see Bernardi 1967). Some of the intermediates and the more distinctive local forms are discussed in the following.

    In the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tamaulipas we find a distinctive ecotype on coastal dunes and in other sandy places. It is characterized by relatively wide, elliptic to slightly obovate, very coriaceous leaves, mostly relatively small flowers, and by a short, erect indument on the much-branched inflorescences. This form intergrades in many ways with other populations in the area, and the type of Nectandra loesneri is one of these intermediate forms.

    On the western coast of Mexico, especially in the state of Guerrero, there is a group with rather narrow leaves, a denser and slightly brownish indument on the twigs, and mostly botryoid inflorescences. The type of Nectandra salicifolia comes from this group, and I wish to emphasize that it is in no way typical of the majority of specimens included in this species.

    In the state of Chiapas the situation is more complicated. Many of the collections from this state belong to a group that is not only locally very distinctive, but also intermediate to Nectandra matudai. And that species, in turn, has been kept separate only to avoid further mergers. The group in question, consisting of Breedlove 10233 (NY), 24564 (F, MO, NY), 24576 (MO, NY), 29051 (MO, NY), 30296 (MO, NY), Hornman 15774 (US), Matuda 5663 (US) = 15663 (F), Miranda 5348 (US) and Purpus 420 (US), differs from N. salicifolia s.str. mainly by an impressed midrib and a longer style, and from N. matudai by a sparser indument on the twigs and very conspicuous gland dots on the leaves. It could be treated as a distinct species, but since all of its characters occur elsewhere in N. salicifolia, I decided to avoid creating yet another possibly superfluous name. Some of the collections belonging to this group may key out to N. colorata because of brownish hairs on the twigs.

    Another distinctive group with an impressed midrib but with much wider leaves is found in Guatemala (Baja Verapaz) and Honduras (Morazan and Olancho). The group is represented by a fair number of collections, Kellerman 7628 (F, US), 7995 (F), Molina 162 (MO), 1123 (F, US), 2526 (F, US), 2576 (F), 3053 (F), 3060 (F, MO, US), 3881 (F), 11094 (F, NY), Standley 12917 (F), 14388 (F), 14418 (F), 15205 (F, US), 17556 (F), 22129 (F), 22405 (F), and Yuncker 8162 (F). Nevertheless, I consider the material insufficient for a description because only one of these collections has a few good flowers, and intermediates towards more typical Nectandra salicifolia seem to occur.

    Also in Honduras we find a group that links Nectandra salicifolia with N. longicaudata. This group, represented by Molina 7928 (F, US), 7934 (F), 13687 (F, NY, US), and Morton 7644 (US), agrees with N. longicaudata in almost every character except that the indument on the twigs is much sparser, paler, and more appressed. Although I do suspect that this group is closer to N. longicaudata than to N. salicifolia I have still placed it here because it falls so clearly outside the otherwise well-defined concept of N. longicaudata. It should be noted that the paratype of Phoebe longicaudata cited above, Lundell 6401, is not a member of this intermediate group.

    Indument characters also play a major part in the delimitation of Nectandra martinicensis and N. nitida, and a poor development of the characteristic indument can lead to confusion with N. salicifolia. Still the number of intermediates is small in these cases. More common seems to be a connection between N. salicifolia and the small-leaved form of N. umbrosa, as illustrated by Molina 20454 (F, NY, US) and L. O. Williams 23829 (F, NY) from Nicaragua, Molina 12961 (F, US), 12992 (F), and 30785 (F) from Honduras, and Davidse 32782 (MO) from Belize. In all of these the gland dots on the upper leaf surface are sunken, like pinpricks (see p. 14), but they are smaller and/or less dense than in typical N. umbrosa. In one of these collections (Molina 30785) there are even a few short hairs on the ovary.

    A possible intermediate between Nectandra salicifolia and N. smithii is illustrated by only one collection, J. Valerio R. 2746 (F) from Honduras, which has relatively large anthers and a dense, pale brown indument on the twigs.

    By far the weakest delimitation is found between Nectandra salicifolia and N. coriacea, and several collections of the former species will inevitably key out at the latter one, regardless of the character used for their delimitation (see also p. 53). This is indeed a strong argument for merging the two under the older name of N. coriacea, as is frequently done, but I decided to keep them separate because N. coriacea s.str. has a characteristic appearance, and their distribution is only slightly overlapping on the Yucatan peninsula.

    All type material that I have seen of N. salicifolia is sterile. Since most of the material on which Kunth based his descriptions is preserved at P, I select the P specimen as the lectotype.

    Phenology: Flowering specimens have been collected in all months of the year, but the main flowering time is January to May. The main fruiting time is June to October

  • Common Names

    aguacate cimaron, aguacate del monte, aguacatillo, keská, flor de pescarito, laurel, laurelillo, mangle, 'onte', piesito de paloma, puchitum, puchituum, sacacoco, tuil ch’ijt, laurel, aguaca-tillo, black wattle, juacatillo, laurel, timbersweet, wild pear, aguacatillo

  • Distribution

    From just north of the Tropic of Cancer in Tamaulipas, Mexico, to Nicaragua, growing in a variety of habitats from coastal dunes (especially in Veracruz) to montane rain forest (especially in Chiapas), up to 2300 m altitude. Most frequently collected in seasonal evergreen or partly deciduous forests, in central and western Mexico mostly in moist ravines.

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