Chamaecrista glandulosa var. brasiliensis (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

Authors

Howard S. Irwin, Rupert C. Barneby

Authority

Irwin, Howard S. & Barneby, Rupert C. 1982. The American Cassiinae. A synoptical revision of Leguminosae tribe Cassieae subtrib Cassiinae in the New World. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 35, part 2: 455-918.

Family

Caesalpiniaceae

Scientific Name

Chamaecrista glandulosa var. brasiliensis (Vogel) H.S.Irwin & Barneby

Type

Cassia chamaecrista var. brasiliensis Vogel, Syn. Gen. Cass. 63. 1837.—"In Brasilia: Sellow leg. pr. Rio [de] Jan[eiro] in collibus siccis. —Holotypus, presumably †B; no isotypus found, but protologue and locality decisive.

Synonyms

Cassia chamaecrista var. brasiliensis Vogel, Chamaecrista baileyorum Rose, Cassia chamaecrista var. brasiliensis Vogel

Description

Species Description - Slender, freely branching shrubs 8-15 dm, the young stems and lf-stalks puberulent with incumbent hairs to 0.2—0.5 mm, the stems sometimes cinereous, the pedicels in addition often weakly pilosulous with longer fine hairs up to 0.6-1 mm, the dull dark-olivaceous foliage appearing glabrous but the lfts ciliolate at least near base, often puberulent dorsally. Stipules narrowly lance-attenuate (4.5-)6-12 x (0.5-)0.6-1.3 mm, from subsymmetric base 5—8-nerved, at first erect, becoming dry and sinuously recurving, persistent. Major cauline lvs up to 4-8.5 cm, the petiole 3.5-7(-8) mm; petiolar gland 1 sessile patelliform, round or elliptic (0.5-)0.6-1.5 mm diam, in profile 0.3-0.5 mm tall; lfts of larger lvs 8—12(—14) pairs, linear-oblong to narrowly oblong-obovate, the largest of a plant 13—18(—21) x 3^.4 mm, the pinnate venulation of 4-8(-9) pairs of major secondaries and between each of these 1—2 minor intercalary ones. Pedicels at anthesis 13—27(—31) mm, in fruit (14—) 18—35 mm; sepals up to (6.5-)7-12 mm; long abaxial petal 11-16 mm; style linear straight or almost so 4.5-6 mm, often puberulent to middle; ovules (8—) 11—18. Pod (40-)45-75 x 5-6.5 mm, the purplish-castaneous valves puberulent or minutely pilosulous.—Collections: 24.

Distribution and Ecology - Brushy declivities of morros facing the bay or ocean, and in thickets of restinga on the coastal sands, locally common along the coast of Rio de Janeiro and Guanabara, s.-e. Brazil, from Cabo Frio w. to Baia de Sepetiba (42-44°W long.).—Fl. almost throughout the year.

Discussion

The var. brasiliensis is feebly characterized by the syndrome of frutescent stature, sessile patelliform petiolar glands and, as remarked by Vogel in the protologue, exceptionally narrow stipules. None of these features is unique to the variety, but no practical difficulty in recognising it is anticipated, for it is the only chamaecrista with long-pedicelled flowers known to occur naturally in eastern Brazil. An old specimen (Isabelle in 1835, G), purportedly collected on the frontier of Uruguay and Rio Grande do Sul, has been ignored in composing the statement of range. It was perhaps a cultivated plant brought to Missão São Borja from Rio de Janeiro. Branchlets of var. brasiliensis severed from their frutescent base are to an astonishing degree like whole plants of Ch. fasciculata severed at the root.

Bentham (1870, l.c.) confused genuine var. brasiliensis with C. hypnotica Vell. (=our Ch. nictitans var. paraguariensis) which, while similar in the form of the gland, is very easily separable by its monocarpic wandlike growth-habit and short- pedicelled flowers, characters explicit in Velloso’s plate.

Distribution

Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| Guanabara Brazil South America| Brazil South America|