Calliandra harrisii (Lindl.) Benth.
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Authors
Rupert C. Barneby
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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.
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Family
Mimosaceae
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Scientific Name
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Synonyms
Calliandra cylindrocarpa Benth., Clelia ornata Casar., Calliandra harrisii (Lindl.) Benth.
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Description
Species Description - Macrophyllidious, weakly arborescent or subsarmentose shrubs attaining 3-4 m, with smooth gray annotinous long-shoots, the young growth commonly villosulous with fine whitish hairs to 0.3-0.6 mm but sometimes early glabrate, or glabrous from the first, the plane, thin-textured lfts bicolored, dark green but opaque above, paler beneath, the incipiently umbelliform capitula arising singly at the first 1-2 nodes of newly activated brachyblasts either axillary to an old primary lf or at a recently defoliate primary node, the hornotinous foliage mostly hyster- or synanthous. Stipules deltate or ovate-triangular 1-2.5 mm, sometimes faintly striate when young but early thickened and then veinless externally, often gibbous dorsally, blanched in age, persistent. Lf-formula i/1½, lf-stks at maturity ±1.5-3.5 cm, at middle 0.4-0.6 mm diam; rachis of pinnae 7-11 mm, the odd exterior lft inserted well below middle, smaller than the distal pair but over half as long; lft-pulvinules ±1-1.2 mm; distal lfts obliquely obovate-elliptic or oblanceolate from semicordate base, either obtuse, or deltate-apiculate, or retuse-apiculate, the larger ones (1.5—)2—4.8 x (0.9-)1-2.2 cm, 1.7-2.4 times as long as wide; venation palmate-pinnate, the straight or gently incurved midrib nearly centric at mid-blade, giving rise on each side to 5-8 major secondary nerves brochidodrome well within the margin, the 1-2 posterior primary nerves very short, the tertiary venulation either lax irregular or sharply closely reticulate, becoming pallid and weakly prominulous on each face. Peduncles 8-38 mm, usually ebracteate; capitula 7-12-fld, the receptacle <2 mm; floral bracts linear- spatulate or subulate, 1 mm or less, persistent; fls heteromorphic, the peripheral ones either subsessile or distinctly pedicellate, the terminal one truly sessile, scarcely longer than the rest but much broader, in random capitula abortive; PERIPHERAL FLS: pedicel 0.4-1.5 mm; perianth either glabrous except for minutely ciliolate corolla-lobes, or the calyx thinly pilosulous, the latter coarsely ±15-20-veined, the corolla nearly veinless externally, reddish distally; calyx in profile cuneiform (clove-shaped) 2.3-4.5 mm, at orifice abruptly dilated to 1.6-2.4 mm diam, the incurved depressed-ovate, broadly obtuse teeth 0.2-0.4 mm, dorsally gibbous, purple-carmine; corolla subcylindric 7.7-11.5 mm, the erect, oblong obtuse, often unequal lobes 0.4-2.1 mm; androecium 20-28-merous, when fully expanded 2.8-6 cm, pallid below middle, carmine distally, the tube 4-6.5 mm, the stemonozone 0.6-1.4 mm; ovary sessile, glabrous, in some fls rudimentary; intrastaminal nectary 0; CENTRAL FL: calyx broadly campanulate 23 mm diam; stamens nearly twice as many as in outer fls; nectarial disc 0.55-0.8 mm tall. Pods in profile linear straight (5-)6-10 cm, obtusely 4-angular and ±5-6 mm diam, the sutural ribs dilated and in both dorsal and lateral views as wide as the fruit itself, in lateral view concealing the woody valves but separated by a narrow groove, the whole in cross-section obtusely 8-shaped, the ribs coarsely nerved lengthwise, micropuberulent glabrescent.
Distribution and Ecology - On exposed rocky slopes, on stream banks, and in thin brush-woodland, mostly below 400 m, best known from Cabo Frio and shores and islands of Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where first collected in 1815 by Prince Maximilian (BR); once recorded from near 13°50'S in interior Bahia (Barra da Estiva to Larguinha) and once from central Minas Gerais (Glaziou, P); disjunct on Cerro León in Parque Nacional Defensores del Chaco, Paraguay, and at 800 m near Camiri, in the Andean foothills of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, near 19°45'S; cultivated at S. Paulo, Brazil, and formerly under glass in Europe. — Map 35. — Fl. VIII-X(-?), the flowers precocious or accompanying new leaves.
Relationships - Within its interrupted range south of the Hylaea C. harrisii is the only member of ser. Macrophyllae with primarily pinnate venation; in other respects it resembles C. tergemina sens. lat. The plumply obtusely angulate pod is unique in the genus; its sutural ribs are so far enlarged at expense of the narrow valves as almost or quite to conceal them from external view, and the cross-section has become bluntly 8-shaped. The dispersal of C. harrisii is difficult to account for, the known populations being so far apart and apparently adapted to diverse associations and microclimates.
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Distribution
Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| Bahia Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America| Santa Cruz Bolivia South America| Paraguay South America| São Paulo Brazil South America|