Calliandra palmeri S.Watson

  • 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

    Calliandra palmeri S.Watson

  • Type

    "[MEXICO. Jalisco:] Guadalajara . . . August [1886] . . . ([E. Palmer] 279)." — Holotypus, GH!; isotypi, K!, NY (2 sheets)!, US!. —Anneslia palmeri Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 73. 1928.

  • Synonyms

    Calliandra palmeri S.Watson

  • Description

    Species Description - Elaborately microphyllidious, few- but ample-lvd, either virgately 1-stemmed or bushy and severalstemmed shrubs 0.5-1.7 m, except for lustrous glabrous ventral face of lfts densely pilose-pilosulous throughout with fine gray hairs to ±0.6-1.3 mm, the lfts paler brown and dull beneath, ciliate, the inflorescence a long efoliate pseudoraceme of few- and large- fld, umbelliform capitula, the perianth of individual fls densely white-silky externally; phyllotaxy distichous. Stipules caducous (absent from fruiting specimens), thinly herbaceous, ovate or lanceolate ±5-7.5 mm wide. Lf-formula viii—xiii/44—55(-60); lf-stks stout 12-22 cm, the petiole ±2-5 cm, at middle 2-3 mm diam, the longer interpinnal segments 1-2 cm, the narrow ventral groove bridged at insertion of pinnae; pinnae either distally accrescent or shorter at both ends of lf-stk, the rachis of longer ones 8-14 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 1.3-2.4 mm; lft-pulvinules 0.3-0.7 x 0.5-1 mm, not wrinkled; lfts abruptly decrescent proximally, gradually so distally, the firm plane blades linear-lanceolate from shortly deltate-auriculate or semitruncate base, straight or incipiently falcate, deltately acute, the larger ones 9-13.5 x (1.7-)2-3.5 mm, (3.5-)3.7-6.3(-6.5) times as long as wide; venation palmate-pinnate, the midrib displaced to divide blade ±1:2-2.5, the inner of 2 posterior primary nerves incurved-ascending short of mid-blade, the midrib ±5-7-branched on posterior side, the secondary and faint tertiary venulation either delicately prominulous or immersed. Inflorescence- axis simple, efoliate, 2-5 dm; peduncles solitary or geminate 4.5-18 mm, ebracteate, becoming 2.5-4 mm diam in fruit; capitula (1—)2—5-fld, the caducous bracts ovate-suborbicular 3.5-5 mm diam, early dry deciduous; pedicels turbinate 1-3.5 x ±2 mm; perianth 5(-6)-merous, the thinly coriaceous calyx hemispherical, gray-brownish-strigose except for glabrescent teeth, the fleshy, when dry coriaceous corolla white-pilose overall, in section ±1 mm thick; calyx 6-9 mm, the teeth either hemispherical erose or depressed-deltate 0.6-2 mm; corolla 15-21 mm, the erect lanceolate lobes 9-11.5 mm; androecium 130-152-merous, 6.5-8 cm, the tube 5.5-7 mm, the stemonozone 3-3.5 mm, internally thickened but without defined discoid nectary, the tassel crimson- scarlet. Pods stiffly erect, in broad profile 12-14 x 1.6-2.2 cm, the massive sutural ribs in dorsal view 6-8 mm wide, the woody valves low-convex over each of 6-8 seeds, obliquely sulcate between them, the whole pod densely gray-brown-velvety-pilose overall; seeds in broad view 9.5-12 x 7 mm, the hard smooth, light brown testa finely pleurogrammic.

    Distribution and Ecology - At edge of fields, in shrub-thickets, and openings in pine-oak or oak forest, 1020-1650 m, locally plentiful in the lower valley of Río Grande de Santiago in Jalisco and Nayarit, Mexico. — Map 44. — Fl. (V-)VI-IX; fr. VIII-XII.

    Relationships - An exceptionally handsome calliandra, akin to the preceding species, C. juzepczukii, which differs principally in smaller leaflets and shorter calyx.

  • Distribution

    Jalisco Mexico North America| Nayarit Mexico North America|