Abarema callejasii Barneby & J.W.Grimes

  • Authors

    Rupert C. Barneby

  • Authority

    Barneby, Rupert C. & Grimes, James W. 1996. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: a generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part I. Abarema, Albizia, and allies. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74: 1-292.

  • Family

    Mimosaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Abarema callejasii Barneby & J.W.Grimes

  • Type

    COLOMBIA. Antioquia, mun. Briceno: en bosque pluvial montano, 1800-2000 m, desvio a Vereda Manzanares, 4 km O de la Troncal del Caribe sobre la via Ventanas-Briceno (75°30'W, 7°15'N), 21.III. 1988 (fl., fr.), R. Callejas (with F. J. Roldan & A. L. Arbaláe

  • Description

    Species Description - Macrophyllidious trees 7-14 m with fuscous elenticellate annotinous branchlets, the young parts densely minutely appressed-puberulent with brownish hairs <0.1 mm, early glabrate, the ample papery lfts lustrous olivaceous glabrous, a trifle paler beneath, the few, lax racemes of white-stamened fls arising singly from the axil of coevally expanding lvs toward the apex of new growth. Stipules 0. Lf-formula i-ii/2-3 (lfts 8-24 per lf); lf-stks (l-)2-5.5 cm, the one interpetiolar segment 1.5-3.5 cm; petiolar nectaries between pulvinules of each pair of pinnae and of each pair of lfts, crateriform with thickened margin, suborbicular 0.6-1.2 mm diam; rachis of one pair or of distal longer pair of pinnae (2.5-)5-7 cm, the longer interfoliolar segment 12-24 mm; lf-pulvinules livid, not cross-wrinkled, 2.5-5 x 0.8-1.2 mm; lfts distally accrescent, in outline subsymmetrically ovate-short-acuminate from broadly cuneate base, obtuse at very apex, the longer ones 6.5-11 (-13.5) x 2.2-4 (-6.4) cm, 2.2-2.9 times as long as wide; the straight, centric or very slightly excentric midrib giving rise on each side to 4-7 major secondary veins strongly incurved-ascending to anastomosis shortly within the almost plane margin and to many weaker intercalary ones, these all connected by an elaborate reticulum of finer veinlets, the whole venation prominulous on both faces of lft. Peduncles ascending 3-7 cm; racemes 25-45-fid, the fls subhorizontal or widely ascending, the axis becoming 3-6 cm; bracts ovate ±0.4 mm, very early caducous; pedicels 1-2.5 x 0.3-0.4 mm, becoming a little shorter distally along axis; fls 5-merous homomorphic, the perianth minutely sordid-strigulose externally; calyx campanulate or turbinate-campanulate 2.5-2.8 x 1.6-1.8 mm, the tube firm brownish, the pallid-margined, low-deltate, often unequal teeth 0.2-0.5 mm; corolla very narrowly funnel-shaped 6.3-7.4 mm, the erect lance- ovate lobes 2-2.2 x 1-1.1 mm; androecium 32-42- merous, the stemonozone 1-1.4 mm, the tube 3.5-5 mm, the longest filaments ±15 mm; ovary subsym- metrically fusiform, glabrous; style about 5 mm longer than stamens, the stigma scarcely 0.2 mm diam. Pods 1-2 per raceme, in profile falcately broad- linear and evenly recurved through ±3/4-circle, cuneately attenuate at base, broadly obtuse and acentrically mucronulate at apex, piano-compressed and framed by scarcely undulate sutures ±1 mm wide in dorsal view, only minutely colliculate over each of 8 seeds, the stiffly papery valves externally dull- fuscous, glabrous and densely ascending-venulose and reticulate overall, internally orange-castaneous smooth; dehiscence primarily through the seminiferous suture, not seen fully realized; funicles narrowly ligulate, coiled at apex; seeds compressed-obovoid- ellipsoid 9-9.5 x 6.5-7 x 2 mm, the pale greenish translucent testa <0.1 mm thick in section, girdled by a slender nerve, loosely investing the hard fuscous embryo and wrinkled when dry, pleurogram 0; endosperm 0.

    Distribution and Ecology - In montane rain forest at 1600-2000 m, known only from the E slope of Cord. Central in mun. Briceno, Amaltí, and S. Luis, between 6° and 7° 15'N in state of Antioquia, Colombia. - Map 24B. - Fl. Ill-V.

  • Discussion

    Abarema callejasii is the only known Colombian species with spicate inflorescence and slenderly pedicellate flowers, and differs further from its neighbor A. lehmannii in dorsally glabrous leaflets, in relatively few-flowered racemes, in longer calyces and androecia, and in falcate rather than spirally coiled fruits. The species was first collected in May 1944 on the Colombia Cinchona Mission by Earle E. Core (635, NY, US). The specimens, in young flower, were identified as Pithecellobium by R. S. Cowan, but have since lain among indeterminate Mimosaceae. In 1988, Ricardo Callejas (HUA) at our request revisited Core’s locality and obtained the fine flowering and fruiting material on which our description is principally based. It is a pleasure to dedicate this remarkably distinct, Antioquian tree to an admired friend and obliging colleague.

  • Distribution

    Antioquia Colombia South America|