Rhodostemonodaphne morii Madriñán

Authority

Madriñán, Santiago R. 2004. (Lauraceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 92: 1-102. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family

Lauraceae

Scientific Name

Rhodostemonodaphne morii Madriñán

Type

Type. French Guiana. Saül, Mont La Fumée, 8 Sep 1989 (male fl), Mori, Fitzgerald, Gebhards & N. Stevens 20850 (holotype: NY; isotypes: CAY-n.v., MO, U, US).

Description

Species Description - Trees: branches mesotonic, in axils of basal foliage leaves; twigs terete, 1-3 mm diam.; epidermis black; terminal bud plump, ca. 3 x 2 mm; cataphylls caducous; indument puberulous, caducous by next flush, the hairs sparse, to 0.5 mm long, straight to crisped, erect, brownish. Leaves: petioles slender, (0.1-)0.7-1.2 cm x 0.8-1.6 mm, terete; blades thinly chartaceous, flat, broadly elliptic, (4-)9-17 x 2-5 (-7) cm; base obtuse, 50-80°; apex attenuate, 70-90°, ultimately acuminate for up to 1.8(-3.2) cm; margin plane; primary vein above slightly raised and rounded, below prominent; secondary veins (2-)3-5 pairs, often number of secondary veins on the two halves of lamina differing by one, equidistant, brochidodromous, above slightly raised, below prominent, diverging at (45-)55-65°, evenly arching, chordal angle 20-35°, the angle uniform along blade length; tertiary veins above flat to slightly raised, below raised, random-reticulate to scalariform; higher-order veins above and below slightly raised; surface above olive-green in young leaves, dark green to black in older leaves, inconspicuously black-dotted, below olive-green, slightly glaucous, the veins brown; indument above absent, the primary and secondary veins tomentose, below puberulous, the hairs isolated, to 1.5 mm long, curved, erect, yellowish brown, persisting for at least two flushes. Staminate inflorescences: basitonic to acrotonic, pendulous?, peduncles 4-13 cm long, the hypopodia 1-6 cm x ca. 0.8 mm, branch orders 5(-6), the second-order branches 3-5, clustered apically (scattered), lowest branch to 4 cm long, color and indument of all axes as on twigs; bracts and bracteoles caducous (not seen). Staminate flowers: pedicels ca. 4.8 x 1 mm, the diameter even throughout; receptacle globose, ca. 1.6 x 4 mm, constricted at the place of tepal inception; tepals chartaceous, ovate, ca. 0.9 x 1.2 mm, at anthesis erect, blackish, adaxially puberulous; stamens of whorls I and II capitate, the anthers trapezoid, ca. 0.8 x 0.64 mm (whorl II slightly smaller), with a few hairs at base, the locelli 2 to 3, apical, in a shallow arch, in-trorse, the glands absent; whorl III columnar, ca. 1.2 x 0.8 mm, with a few hairs at base, the locelli 4, the upper pair latrorse, the lower pair extrorse, the glands globular, ca. 0.3 mm diam.; whorl IV absent; all stamens reddish; pistillode absent. Pistillate flowers: pistil ca. 1.6 x 1 mm; ovary ovoid, ca. 1 mm long, glabrous. Fruits: pedicels to 10 x 5 mm, abruptly enlarging to form the cupule; cupule hemispherical, to 9 x 20 mm, smooth to tuberculate, the margin slightly undulate, tepals persisting; berry elliptic, to 18 x 15 mm.

Discussion

Field notes. Trees to 35 m tall and 35(-45) cm diam., already flowering when 18 m tall; buttresses thick, low or absent; outer bark smooth (with incipient sculpturing), purplish gray; inner bark ca. 8 mm thick, yellow orange; wood yellow orange, wood aromatic. Tepals cream. Cupule red.

Common Names

pisie

Distribution

Known from four localities in northeastern South America, two from coastal forests in Suriname at near sea level, and two from central French Guiana at ca. 300 m. Flowers August-October, concurrent with new vegetative flushes, during the dry season. Immature fruits already present by late September, maturing in December at the beginning of the rainy season. Old cupules can be found as late as May.

Suriname South America| Marowijne Suriname South America| Saramacca Suriname South America| French Guiana South America|