Zygia cupirensis (C.Barbosa) L.Rico
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Authors
Rupert C. Barneby
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Authority
Barneby, Rupert C. & Grimes, James W. 1997. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: A generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part II.
, , and . Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74: 1-149. -
Family
Mimosaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
"VENEZUELA, Estado Miranda, cerro del Bachiller, quebrada Corozal, al sur de Santa Cruz, 10°9'N, 65°48'W, 10 Km por aire desde Cupira, 300-700 msnm, 20-26 Mar 1978, J. A. Steyermark & G. Davidse 16504 fl fr." - Holotypus, MO n.v.; isotypus, NY!.
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Etymology
The epithet refers to the township of Cupira in the state of Miranda.
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Synonyms
Pithecellobium cupirense C.Barbosa
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Description
Species Description - Slender cauliflorous trees of forest understory, with terete pallid branches, the nascent stems, lf-axes and inflorescence minutely puberulent with sordid hairs but the adult foliage glabrous, the thinly papery, dull-olivaceous lfts only a trifle paler beneath, the white or white pink-stamened fls borne in short spikes arising directly from scaley knots on annotinous and older branches. Stipules triangular-lanceolate 1-2.5 x 0.6 1.5 mm, submembranous or thickened in age but not striate externally, deciduous. Lf-formula i/3½-4½, the lfts 7-9 per pinna; petioles 3-6 x 0.6-1.5 mm; nectary between the 1 pair of pinnae sessile round, shallowly cupular thick-rimmed 1.3-2.5 mm diam, similar but smaller ones between furthest 1-2 pairs of lfts; pinna-rachises 4-11 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments ±2-3 cm; lft-pulvinules 0.8-3 x 0.8-1.3 mm; lfts distally accrescent, elliptic or ovate-elliptic from inequilaterally broad-cuneate or semicordate base, shortly acuminate, the distal and penultimate pairs (4.5-)5-9 x 2-4 cm, 2.3-3.2 times as long as wide; venation pinnate, the nearly centric, straight or gently incurved midrib giving rise on each side to ±6-9 very slender secondary (and random intercalary) nerves weakly brochidodrome within the plane margin, the tertiary venulation random weak. Spikes 4— 10-fld, the very slender axis, including short peduncle, not more than 11 mm; bracts deltate 0.5-0.6 mm; perianth silky-strigulose-pilosulous overall, the corolla tube finely striate-nerved, the calyx and corolla-lobes externally nerveless; calyx subhemi-spherical 0.6-0.8 x 1—1.2 mm, the deltate teeth 0.2-0.3 mm; corolla tubular, slightly dilated distally, 5.5-6.7 mm, the ovate lobes 0.6-1 mm; androecium 32-38-merous, 18-26 mm, the tube 12.5-15.5 mm, exserted 7-9 mm; disc reduced to rudimentary callosities on inner face of androecial tube. Pods when well-fertilized broad-linear in profile, straight or very gently decurved, to 12-seeded, but often imperfect and narrow-oblong as little as 7 cm and only 2-3-seeded, in either case 2-2.7 cm wide, narrowed at base into a short neck, abruptly apiculate, planocompressed, the leathery but not rigid valves not over 0.6 mm thick in section, framed by slender sutures at most 2 mm wide, the epicarp dull brown, smooth except for faint random nervation, densely minutely subappressed-puberulent overall; dehiscence and ripe seeds not seen.
Distribution and Ecology - In understory of semideciduous woodland at ±300-600 m, not recorded from streamside habitats, very local on the Caribbean slope in NE Venezuela: near S border of state of Miranda; and on Paria Peninsula in state of Sucre. — Map. 27. — Fl. VI—VII.
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Distribution
Miranda Venezuela South America| Sucre Venezuela South America|