Talisia mollis Cambess.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2003. Meliococceae (Sapindaceae):
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Family
Sapindaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. French Guiana. Cayenne, 1820 (fl), Anonymous 34 7 (holotype, B-destroyed, photo (F neg. 5677) at US). Epitype. French Guiana. Saül: Along Limonade trail, by km. 1, 30 Oct 1971 (fl), Oldeman B-4183 (epitype, CAY-2, here designated; iso-epitypes, P, US).
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Synonyms
Talisia guianensis Aubl.
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Description
Species Description - Slender tree or treelet, 4-10(13) m tall, unbranched or with few ascending, sympodial branches on distal portion; trunk to 8 cm in diam.; bark grayish to dark brown, smooth or lenticellate. Stems terete, minutely hirsute, sometimes hollow in the center and inhabited by ants. Leaves paripinnate, spirally arranged on distal portion of stem(s); distal process acicular, early deciduous, usually curved; leaflets chartaceous, 10-16 (32), opposite to alternate, oblong, elliptic or lanceolate, (5.5) 9-27(53) × (2)3.5-8.5(12) cm, the venation brochidodromus, tertiary veins reticulate, the adaxial surface with impressed venation, glabrous or the midvein minutely tomentose, the abaxial surface minutely hirsute, with prominent venation, the apex acuminate to caudate, the base inequilateral, one side obtuse or rounded the other attenuate or cuneate, the margins entire slightly revolute; petiolules pulvinate, 4-6 mm long, minutely hirsute to glabrescent; rachis 22-60 cm long, terete, or slightly angled on distal portion, minutely hirsute; petioles 1227 (40) cm long, terete, minutely hirsute, greatly enlarged at base. Thyrses panicle-shaped, 30-60 cm long, terminal or axillary on distal part of branches; cataphylls acicular, 5-10 mm long, hirsute, axes terete or slightly angled, hirsute; bracts and bracteoles lanceolate or subulate, hirsute, 1.3-3.5 mm long; dichasia simple, sessile; pedicels < 1 mm long, articulate at the apex. Calyx light green, urceolate, 23-A mm long, minutely hirsute, sometimes intermingled with glandular hairs, the sepals 1.63 mm long, ovate-deltate; petals white, 5.5 mm long, oblong, abaxially glabrous, adaxially papillate, rounded at apex, cuneate or cuneate-attenuate at base; appendage as long as the petal, long-deltate, abaxially papillate, adaxially hirsute on upper half; disc 5-lobed, minutely hirsute at apex, ca. 0.8 mm tall; stamens 8, the filaments of equal or nearly equal length, glabrous, 2-4 mm long, nearly filiform, the anthers oblong or linear-lanceolate, 1.5-1.8 mm long, apiculate at apex; ovary conical, sericeous-hirsute, the stigma elongate-trigonous, ferruginous-papillate. Fruit yellow to orange-yellow at maturity, ovoid to globose, 2-2.5 cm long, densely to sparsely hirsutulous, the pericarp woody, smooth, to 2.5 mm thick. Seed ellipsoid, the testa woody, with a thin, fleshy, yellowish to orange-yellow upper layer, rugulate when dried. Embryo with cotyledons lying dorsiventrally to obliquely dorsiventrally over each other, the lower one almost twice as large as the upper one.
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Discussion
Specimens of Talisia mollis are sometimes difficult to tell apart from those of T. hemidasya because many of the characters may overlap. In general, T. mollis has stems that are more densely pubescent than those of T. hemidasya, and which lack glandular hairs. The abaxial side of leaflets in T. mollis are always minutely hispidulous, while those of I hemidasya are glabrous or puberulent, only rarely minutely hispidulous. These distinctions may sound weak in the absence of the habit character which is clearly different in both species. Talisia mollis is an unbranched, palm-like understory shrub while T. hemidasya is a large tree with profuse branching which forms a dense crown. Talisia mollis is vegetatively similar to T. pachycarpa; however, they are easily distinguished by their flower morphology. The calyx in T. mollis has sepals that are free nearly to the base, while those of T. pachycarpa are connate to form a cupular calyx. The specific epithet refers to the soft pubescence of this species.
The holotype of T. mollis at B was destroyed during World War II. The only surviving material of this collection appears to be a fragment in the Cambessèdes herbarium at MPU. Represented only by an inflorescence fragment, this collection is not an adequate specimen to typify the species. For this reason, I am choosing a recent collection as epitype for T. mollis.Phenology. Flowers from September to January and fruits from November to July.
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Common Names
Pitomba, payacoussa, paiacoussa, tuliata, flambeau dur, tatu-tatu
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Distribution
The Guianas and Brazil in understory of non-flooded forest.
Guyana South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Approuague-Kaw French Guiana South America| Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni French Guiana South America| Sinnamary French Guiana South America| Cayenne French Guiana South America| Saül French Guiana South America| Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Maranhão Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America|