Calliandra mollissima (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Benth.
-
Authors
Rupert C. Barneby
-
Authority
Barneby, Rupert C. 1998. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: A generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part III. Calliandra. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74: 1-223.
-
Family
Mimosaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Type
"Habitat in America meridionali," the locality specified by Kunth, Mimoses 61, t. XIX. 1819: "Crescit prope Querocotillo in regione calidissima Provinciae Jaen de Bracamoros [Cajamarca, Peru] inter flumina Amazonum et rio de Chota, alt. 230 hexapodarum [±
-
Synonyms
Calliandra chotanoana Harms, Inga mollissima Willd. ex Humb. & Bonpl.
-
Description
Species Description - Macrophyllidious shrubs and treelets 2-4 m, with terete, commonly glabrate branches, the new branchlets, lf-axes, and peduncles densely pilosulous with incurved or straighter spreading, sordid gray hairs to 0.6(-0.8) mm, the bicolored, chartaceous, reticulately venulose lfts either glabrous facially except for pilosulous midrib or pilosulous with fine pallid erect- ascending hairs, the capitula of white-stamened fls arising singly and geminate from axils of mature coeval lvs or from recently defoliate nodes of hornotinous branchlets; phyllotaxy distichous. Stipules erect, firm, narrowly triangular to lanceolate or deltate ±1.5-5.5 mm, weakly 5-7-nerved dorsally, persistent or tardily deciduous. Lf-formula i/4—7; petioles 5-20 mm, at middle 0.6-1.4 mm diam; rachis of longer pinnae (1.5—)3—8.5(—9.5) cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 8-18(-20) mm; lft-pulvinules 0.2-0.5 x 0.50.8 mm, finely cross-wrinkled; lfts gently or abruptly accrescent from base of rachis upward, in outline asymmetrically elliptic-obovate or subrhombic-obovate from shallowly semicordate base, broadly obtuse, the terminal pair in larger lvs 17—42 x 10- 18(-20) mm, 1.6-2.2 times as long as wide; primary venation of 3-4 nerves from pulvinule, the midrib moderately or scarcely displaced, the strong innermost posterior primary nerve incurved-ascending through 3/4 of blade or more, the outer ones much shorter, the midrib pinnately branched distally, a close reticulum of sinuous venules elevated on both faces, more sharply so above. Peduncles (6-) 11-27 mm, randomly bracteate below middle or ebracteate; capitula 11—27-fld, the receptacle 1-2 mm diam; bracts subulate 0.6-1.2 mm, persistent; fls (sub)sessile, heteromorphic, of subequal length but the androecium of one or more central ones modified; perianth thin-textured, either 4- or 5-merous, either glabrous except for minute granules at tip of corolla or pilosulous-strigulose externally, both calyx and tube of corolla sharply striate-nerved, the corolla-lobes externally nerveless; PERIPHERAL FLS: calyx campanulate 1.4—2 x 0.8-1.4 mm, the depressed ovate-deltate teeth 0.15-0.4 mm; corolla whitish, 4.3-5.4 mm, the lobes 0.6-1.6 mm; androecium 9-12-merous, 26-33 mm, the stemonozone 0.3-0.45 mm, the tube 4—5.2 mm; ovary glabrous; disc 0; CENTRAL FLS: perianth almost of peripheral fls but the androecium trumpet-shaped, its tube 8.5-13.5 mm, the dilate orifice 2.5 4.5 mm diam; intrastaminal disc ±0.4 mm; ovary 0. Pods (few seen) ±7-10.5 x 1 cm, the valves either glabrous, or puberulent, or densely pallid-pilosulous; seeds unknown.
Distribution and Ecology - In deciduous brush-woodland at 400-1200 m, on steep slopes of valleys tributory to río Marañón in deptos. Amazonas (prov. Bongara and Bagua) and Cajamarca (prov. Cutervo and Chota) within lat. 5°-6°30'S in n. Peru. — Map 29. — Fl. X, XII, V, the full cycle unknown.
Variation and relationships - As defined by my description, C. mollissima is variable in pubescence, C. chotanoana corresponding to the glabrescent variant. Leaf-formula (i/4-7) and relatively ample leaflets (to ±24 x 1-2 cm) together (but not separately) exclude C. mollissima from either ser. Nitidae or ser. Macrophyllae as newly circumscribed and provide an exemplar of an ideal member of ser. Ambivalentes.
-
Distribution
Amazonas Brazil South America| Cajamarca Peru South America|