Condaminea corymbosa (Ruiz & Pav.) DC.

  • Authority

    Delprete, Piero G. 1999. Rondeletieae (Rubiaceae). Part I. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 77: 1-226. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Rubiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Condaminea corymbosa (Ruiz & Pav.) DC.

  • Type

    Type. Peru. Chinchao, 1795 (fl), Tafalla & Manzanilla s.n. (lectotype, MA, selected by Delprete, 1999b; photo-MA at F, MO, TEX).

  • Synonyms

    Condaminea breviflora Standl., Condaminea angustifolia Rusby, Condaminea corymbosa var. pubescens Spruce ex K.Schum., Macrocnemum corymbosum Ruiz & Pav.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrubs 2-5 m tall (exceptionally small trees to 15 m tall, to 30 cm dbh), multicaulous shrubs, exceptionally single-stemmed trees; bark fissured, grayish brown to yellowish brown. Leafy branchlets terete to subterete, glabrous, dark green; older branches rugose, pale brown; lenticels sparse, whitish, ca. 1 mm wide. Stipules 4 at each node, connate at base (basal 2-8 mm), foliose, long lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous to puberulent to hirsutulous outside, glabrous with basal area of colleters inside; (2-)3-7(-9) × 4-9(-13) mm, persistent, pale green (to reddish green), caducous, leaving a white-grayish linear scar. Leaves sessile, subpetiolate to short-petiolate, (15-)25-55(-65) × (10-)15-29 cm, L/W 1.5:1 to 3.5:1; lanceolate to elliptic to oblanceolate to obovate, rounded to cordate to auriculate at base, acute to obtuse, often acuminate at apex, with acumen to 3 cm long; dark green and usually wax-shiny above, yellowish green to pale green-grayish below, coriaceous to subcoriaceous; drying grass-green to olive-green, subcoriaceous; glabrous above, glabrous to minute-puberulent to hirtellous below; blade flat to undulate; primary and secondary veins glabrous to puberulent to hirtellous, stout, prominent below; secondary veins 15-23 each side, basal 3-4 veins perpendicular to primary vein, ascending at medio-distal portion of blade; tertiary veins subparallel; quaternary veinlets openly reticulate, evident below; petioles (when present) to 25 mm long, 3-7 mm thick, terete to flattened adaxially. Inflorescences open corymbose panicles with 1-2(-3) pairs of opposite branches terminating in variably reduced cymules; 18-50 cm long, basal branches 425 cm long; basal portion of axis not branched 2-30 cm long; rachis terete to decussately compressed, rachis and branches glabrous to puberulent to hirtellous; flowers on terminal cymules; distal bracts 2-7 × 2-4 mm, deltoid to narrowly triangular, sometimes similar to stipules (foliose, many-nerved) to 2.5 × to 5 mm, lanceolate, acuminate; bracteoles subtending flowers 1-3 × 1-2 mm, deltoid. Flowers pedicellate, pedicels 1-10 mm long, glabrous to puberulent to hirtellous; hypanthium obconical to narrow-obovate, 6-12 × 3-6 mm, glabrous to hirtellous, sometimes verrucate; flower buds short-clavate, apiculate at tip. Calyx cupular, truncate to evidently lobed, 3-10 × 5-12 mm, glabrous to sparsely puberulent; lobes (when present) (4-)5, deltoid to rounded, 1-6 mm long; leaving a white scar on capsule. Corolla salverform (tubular with spreading lobes), 2-3 cm long, carnose, cream-white to purple outside, greenish white inside; tube cylindrical, 7-16 mm long, 3-6 mm wide at base and 6-8 mm wide at orifice, glabrous outside, glabrous to sparsely pilose inside, with a ring of short-sericeous hairs 4-7 mm from the base, at the same point of filament attachment; lobes (4-)5, 1/3-1/2 of corolla length, (3-)5-9 × 3-7 mm, ovate to oblong, pointed at apex, glabrous outside and inside. Stamens 5, subequal, attached 4-9 mm from the base of the tube and bending toward lower portion at anthesis; filaments 4-8 mm long, terete distally, flattened and widened at base, white, sparsely pubescent at base; anthers narrowly elliptic, 5-8 × 1-1.5 mm, dorsifixed at medial zone, base elliptic to sagittate, smooth throughout, dehiscing by longitudinal slit toward the inside, yellow. Pollen exine reticulate, columellate. Style exserted, 15-22(-26) mm long, terete to moderately compressed, stout, glabrous, grass-green; style branches ovate, membranous, often unequal, reversed at maturity, 3-5 mm long, stigmatic surface microscopically (40×) papillose; immature fruits green to reddish, semi-fleshy, glabrous to minutely puberulent. Capsules obovoid to oblong-turbinate, acute to obtuse at base, shallowly obtuse at apex, (10-)14-20 × 6-11 mm, light to dark brown, without lenticels, glabrous to puberulent throughout, with a cream-white circular calyx scar, 0.5-1.1 mm wide, 5-8 mm diam. Seeds 0.57-0.77 × 0.13-0.3 mm; irregularly 3-4-angular, trapezoid, compressed, testa reticulate.

  • Discussion

    Leaves used for wrapping food, and wood used in sugar mills (Venezuela, Steyermark 56306).

    Condaminea corymbosa is easily recognizable for its four long-lanceolate foliose stipules (two interpetiolar and two intrapetiolar) at each node (Figs. 3F-H, 44A; Fig. 45C,D for stipules in apical buds), its fleshy flowers, purple outside and perlaceous inside, and by its sessile to short-petiolate coriaceous leaves. Condaminea corymbosa is most commonly a short-lived, single-stemmed shrub 2-4 m tall, but I have encountered it as a tree 15 m tall with 30 cm dbh.

    The type of Macrocnemum corymbosum was described and beautifully illustrated in Ruiz and Pavón’s famous Flora Peruviana et Chilensis (1799: pl. 189); no precise type was mentioned and the protologue vaguely states: "Habitat in collibus et runcationibus callidis, versus Chinchao, Acomayo, Pillao et Muna vicos." Most of the material collected by Ruiz and Pavon in this area was lost on the ship San Pedro de Alcantara returning to Spain, in a shipwreck along the coast of Portugal. Ruiz and Pavon returned to Spain in 1788, leaving the two botanists Juan Jose Tafalla and Juan A. Manzanilla (between 1793 and 1797) to re-collect in sites of the collections lost by their predecessors (Estrella, 1991). Tafalla and Manzanilla sent their collections to Spain, where they were then filed in the Herbarium Peruvianum by Ruiz and Pavon and included in Flora Peruviana et Chilensis. In the Herbarium Peruvianum of Madrid (MA) are preserved four specimens annotated as Macrocnemum corymbosum by Pavon (in his handwriting) with the following labels: “Pentand. Monog. - Macrocnemum corymbosum - Vulgo. Carato. - F. P. c. 1. N° 212. -Ex Chinchao. - Ano 95” (Fig. 48), “Macrocnemum corymbosum - Vulgo. Carato insilbatis - Fl. Per. Tab. 189 - Cochero,” “Macrocnemum corymbosum - Fl. Peruv. 2. Ta. 189,” and “Macrocnemum corymbosum F. P.” The first specimen, which was collected by Tafalla and Manzanilla in 1795 and has attached to it the complete description of this species (Pavón’s handwriting), was selected by Delprete (1999b) as the lectotype (Fig. 48); the other specimens are treated as paratypes.

    Condaminea corymbosa has leaves that vary from sessile through subsessile, to short-pedicellate (Fig. 47A-H) and glabrous (mostly in Central America and northern South America) to short-petiolate and glabrous to pubescent (mostly in Peru and Bolivia); in shape they vary from broadly elliptic to narrowly lanceolate (Fig. 47A-H). The floral morphology is relatively constant throughout its distribution, except for the calyx, which tends to be slightly more expanded in southern South America. Because of its variation in shape and vestiture of the vegetative parts throughout its range, several specific and varietal epithets have been assigned to this species.

    This species is known from only one Brazilian collection made in the state of Minas Gerais (Mun. Ituiutaba, San Vicente, Macedo 2402), a locality quite distant from the southernmost Bolivian Andes. Nevertheless, this disjunct collection does not differ in any morphological character from its Andean relatives.

    I have attempted to maintain Condaminea corymbosa var. pubescens from the Andes of southern Peru and Bolivia, where the leaves of this species are almost consistently petiolate, with blades thick-coriaceous, often lanceolate, undulate and commonly puberulent to pubescent beneath. However, as a result of field observations of various populations throughout its range and critical study of herbarium material of C. corymbosa, it is obvious that the above set of vegetative characters intergrade clinally into the more typical elements and that infraspecific recognition for the populations concerned is unwarranted.

    The specimens Boeke 1501 (NY-2 sheets) have yellow-velutinous pubescence on vegetative and reproductive parts, capsules abruptly truncated at apex, and label data that reports “Corolla yellow.” As stated above, the clinal gradation in external vestiture does not represent a reliable taxonomic character, and the yellow flowers reported by Boeke are probably an erroneous observation.

    Distribution and Ecology: Common shrubs (see Fig. 45A), exceptionally single-stemmed trees, in disturbed soil and roadside vegetation on mountain slopes, in dry, deciduous or moist primary and secondary forests, coastal and mainland rain forests to cloud forests on eastern and western Andean slopes, 120-2000 m, from Costa Rica to Bolivia. Flowering specimens were collected in all months of the year except March and September. Fruiting specimens were collected throughout the year except July and November. Ecology. This species is rather frequent on disturbed slopes of the South American Andes, and occurs sometimes as the first successional woody shrub (often in pure stands of individuals 2-3 m tall) on landslides and in cleared or freshly disturbed soil of recently built mountain roads. Because of this, Condaminea corymbosa plays an important role in containing the frequent landslides in the rainy Andean slopes and protecting the young seedlings of endemic tree species. I would very much encourage artificial dissemination of this short-lived shrub for rapid establishment of woody species on disturbed slopes so as to protect newly built Andean roads from frequent landslides. Reproductive biology. The flowers of Condaminea corymbosa are carnose, purple to flesh-red outside and perlaceous inside, and are historically described as strictly actinomorphic. Personal observations (Fig. 46A-F) have revealed that the flowers of this species are obliquely presented (sometimes erect), never pointing downward, and that during anthesis the upper filaments bend toward the lower portion of the corolla throat (not caused by their weight alone), arranging the anthers parallel to each other and dehiscing upward by longitudinal furrows, forming an easy landing platform for possible pollinators (Fig. 46A-F). In Ecuador the most frequent visitors are bees (not identified), which are probably the pollinators of this species ("lap-pollination"). Occasional individuals of C. corymbosa were observed to be associated with ants (pers. obs.). I suspect these ants to be only casual visitors, and no obvious mutualism was observed.

  • Common Names

    anime chiquita, cacahuito, guamo, lengua de vaca, caspi bianco, chullachasqui, larangui, mun baikuanin

  • Distribution

    Costa Rica South America| Cartago Costa Rica Central America| Heredia Costa Rica Central America| Limón Costa Rica Central America| Puntarenas Costa Rica Central America| San José Costa Rica Central America| Panama Central America| Chiriquí Panamá Central America| Darién Panamá Central America| Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America| Caldas Colombia South America| Caquetá Colombia South America| Cauca Colombia South America| Chocó Colombia South America| Cundinamarca Colombia South America| Huila Colombia South America| Meta Colombia South America| Nariño Colombia South America| Norte de Santander Colombia South America| Putumayo Colombia South America| Santander Colombia South America| Tolima Colombia South America| Valle Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Barinas Venezuela South America| Mérida Venezuela South America| Ecuador South America| Carchi Ecuador South America| Cotopaxi Ecuador South America| El Oro Ecuador South America| Esmeraldas Ecuador South America| Imbabura Ecuador South America| Morona-Santiago Ecuador South America| Napo Ecuador South America| Pastaza Ecuador South America| Pichincha Ecuador South America| Sucumbíos Ecuador South America| Tungurahua Ecuador South America| Zamora-Chinchipe Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Amazonas Peru South America| Cajamarca Peru South America| Cusco Peru South America| Huánuco Peru South America| Junín Peru South America| Puno Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| San Martín Peru South America| Ucayali Peru South America| Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America| Bolivia South America| Cochabamba Bolivia South America| La Paz Bolivia South America|