Nectandra apiculata Rohwer

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Lauraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Nectandra apiculata Rohwer

  • Type

    Type. Bolivia. Cochabamba: Carrasco, Siberia region, 200 km from Cochabamba on road to Santa Cruz, 2550 m, 27 Dec 1982 (fl), J. Fernández C. 7824 (holotype, MO; isotype, NY).

  • Description

    Latin Diagnosis - Antheris parce papillosis, apice apiculatis, filamentis pro ratione longis, foliis ellipticis (sub)glabris a congeneribus diversa.

    Species Description - Trees (type specimen from a 5 m tree). Branchlets 5 cm below terminal bud 1.4-2.3 mm in diam., slightly angular, soon becoming terete, with ± short hairs (a few almost reaching 0.3 mm), straight, tightly appressed, below terminal bud moderately dense, quickly becoming moderately sparse, then slowly glabrescent; terminal buds (2 seen) elongate, ca. 6 mm long and 1.5- 2 mm thick, densely covered with ± short, tightly appressed hairs. Petioles (5-)6.5-13 mm long, 1.1-1.8 mm thick, ± round below, canaliculate above, indument below ± as on twigs, initially moderately sparse, glabrescent, glabrous above. Leaves alternate, elliptic, widest ± at the middle, (5-)9.5-13 cm long, (2-)4.5-6 cm wide, 1.9-2.6 times longer than wide, tip with a mostly short acumen, base acute to attenuate, or obtuse towards the base and the base itself broadly attenuate, margin flat or very narrowly bent down, at the petiole running to the upper side, midrib and secondary veins ± convex and often slightly impressed above, (slightly) prominent below, secondary veins (5-)6-8 pairs, diverging at 35-55°, in mid-lamina running at an angle of 25-40° to the midrib, tertiary venation mainly ± scalariform but not very regular, level to slightly raised above, raised below. Indument on lower surface consisting of short and a few slightly longer (up to 0.3 mm), appressed hairs, initially moderately sparse, ± slowly subglabrescent, upper surface glabrous from the beginning. Gland dots only discernible in still membraneous leaves. Inflorescences in the axils of leaves on young growth (the lowermost perhaps in the axils of cataphylls?), 0.5-0.9 mm in diam. at the base, on a twig of 1.5-3 mm diam., ca. 4-10 cm long, reaching ca. 1/2-4/5 the length of the subtending leaf; peduncle 3-5.5 cm long, i.e., ca. 1/2 to 3/4 the length of the inflorescence, lateral branches 0-4 below terminal cyme or cluster of cymes, all of them three-flowered, indument! as on twigs, very sparse to intermediate on peduncle, becoming moderately dense to dense closer to the flowers, but on tepals again much sparser than on receptacle. Pedicels 2.5-4 mm long, 0.4-0.7 mm thick. Flowers ca. 4.5- 6 mm in diam., tepals elliptic, ca. 2.1-2.6 mm long and ca. 1.5-1.8 mm wide, only at the tip somewhat papillose on the inside surface, or almost glabrous. Stamens ca. 1.2-1.4 mm long including a long filament of ca. 0.5-0.6 mm, anthers papillose at the tip, in the two outer whorls ± pentagonal to heptagonal, with a small, obtuse to acute, or often slightly apiculate tip, in the third whorl ± rectangular, slightly emarginate to minutely apiculate at the tip. Staminodes slightly shorter than the filaments of the third whorl, subulate, with a few hairs. Pistil ca. 2 mm long, glabrous, elongate ellipsoid, the thick style reaching ca 2/3 the length of the ovary. Receptacle cup-shaped, small, enclosing only the lower half of the ovary, with very few appressed hairs inside. Fruit unknown (but see below).

  • Discussion

    Nectandra apiculata is easily recognized by its apiculate anthers, long filaments, and by the rather weak papillosity on the tepals. The latter two characters, however, put it close to Ocotea. The subulate, epapillate staminodes and the small receptacle are also more common in Ocotea than in Nectandra. On the other hand, the presence of a short but distinct, papillate sterile tip, the structure of the remaining papillae on the tepals, and the arrangement of the pollen sacs support its inclusion in Nectandra.

    Beck 6806 (HBG), from cloud forest in the department of Santa Cruz, may represent either the same species, or a closely related one. Its flower structure is the same as in the type collection, except that the anthers of the second whorl are truncate at the tip instead of apiculate. The leaves, however, show additional differences, of which the most conspicuous one is the presence of tufts of erect hairs in the axils of the secondary veins on lower leaf surface. The leaves are also slightly smaller, and older ones tend to develop a recurved margin. More material is needed in order to decide whether these differences are constant or not. Beck 6806 also includes fruits, of which some seem to be mature. They have a shallow cupule of ca. 7 mm diam. on a very slightly thickened pedicel, and a spheroidal berry. In the material at hand the berry is pressed, but according to the label it had a diameter of ca. 1 cm.

  • Distribution

    Known only from the type collection, which is from cloud forest.

    Bolivia South America| Cochabamba Bolivia South America|