Endlicheria metallica Kosterm.

  • Authority

    Chanderbali, Andre S. 2004. (Lauraceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 91: 1-141. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Lauraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Endlicheria metallica Kosterm.

  • Type

    Type. Brazil. Amazonas: Near mouth of Rio Embira (tributary of Rio Tarauaca), 19 Jun 1933 (fl [female]), Krukoff 4932 (holotype: NY; isotypes: A, K-n.v., MO, S, U).

  • Description

    Species Description - Trees to 35 m. Branchlets stout, midway along flush 3-5 mm diam., striate, angular, silvery sericeous, the surface barely visible to concealed by the indument cover, the hairs short, to 0.3 mm, straight, appressed; terminal buds plump, 3 × 2 mm, silvery sericeous. Leaves alternate, widely and evenly spaced along current flush; petioles slender, to 3 × 0.3 cm, semi-terete, the indument as on branchlets; laminae coriaceous to chartaceous, plane, elliptic to oblong, 11-20 × 4-9 cm, the base acute to obtuse, briefly decurrent, the apex acute to obtuse, acuminate for up to 2 cm, the margins minutely recurved throughout; upper surface greenish grey, waxy, the primary to fourth-order veins raised, their prominence decreasing with rank; lower surface sparsely to moderately pubescent, the hairs appressed, silvery grey, uniformly distributed, all vein orders raised, their prominence decreasing with rank; secondary veins 3-5 per side, ± evenly spaced, slightly more distant around midlamina, ascending at 50-60° (more obtusely around midlamina), arcuate, the lowermost pair asymmetric (one or both merging with margin at base), distal pairs loop-connected, or distal pairs weakly loop-connected; tertiaries close, roughly horizontal to oblique to midrib, between secondaries straight or once-forked. Staminate inflorescences evenly spaced along current flush in the axils of foliage leaves, to 15 cm long with 8 lateral branches, branch orders 3-4, the highest order dichasial, lax, the flowers distant, the axes silvery strigose, distalmost branches and pedicels more densely so; bracts and bracteoles caducous by anthesis, ovate, sericeous; pedicels terete, to 2 mm long, those supporting secondary flowers slightly shorter. Flowers urceolate, up to 2 mm diam., densely silvery sericeous outside; receptacle deeply cyathiform, 1.3 × 1 mm, constricted below tepals, silvery tomentose inside. Tepals chartaceous, depressed-ovate, 0.4 × 0.7 mm, the inner whorl slightly smaller, erect at anthesis, the inner surface sparsely tomentose near base, the margins and apex inside minutely papillose. Stamens of whorls I and II 0.6 mm tall, sessile, the anthers ovate, 0.3 × 0.4 mm, the apex truncate, the connectives broad above the 2 locelli, these ellipsoid, introrse, the filaments ligulate, as broad as anthers, slightly narrower in whorl II, densely grey-tomentose; whorl III stamens sessile, 0.6 mm tall, the anthers oblong, 0.4 × 0.3 mm, erect, locelli 2, occupying the lower half of the anther, extrorse-latrorse, the filaments broader than anthers, fleshy, the basal glands absent; whorl IV wanting; pistillode filiform. Pistillate inflorescence with indument and color as in staminate plants, but shorter and with fewer lateral branches, the flowers slightly deeper; stamens sterile, smaller; ovary glabrous, ovoid; style stout, weakly distinguished from ovary; stigma minutely tri-lobed, 0.3 mm diam. Fruits borne on stout claviform pedicels of up to 2 × 0.7 cm; cupules heavy walled, hemispherical, to 1.5 × 3 cm, glabrous inside and outside, the margins entire; drupes ovoid, to 4 × 2 cm.

  • Discussion

    Endlicheria metallica shares campanulate flowers and an androecium of nine sessile stamens with E. chrysovelutina, but differs by its closely appressed silvery-grey indument. Flower shape provides easy contrast with vegetatively similar Rhodostemonodaphne grandis, R. praeclara, R peneia, and R. saulensis, but all fruiting specimens (25 of the 39 known collections) had to be initially identified by locating two-locellate staminodes remnant on cupule rims. After this sorting exercise, it became apparent that Endlicheria metallica is a predominantly western Amazonian species (reaching the lower slopes of the Andes) that consistently has elliptic or oblong leaves that assume a greenish grey color in the dry state, while these Rhodostemonodaphne species are restricted to northeastern South America and have obovate leaves that dry dark brown (see also Madriñán, 1996b).

  • Common Names

    máutaga, mantaga, moena callhuangia amarilla, moena negra, laurel negro

  • Distribution

    Trees from well-drained soils in central to western Amazonia and adjacent eastern Andean foothills at 100-1100 m. Flowering from March to October, with fruits available by August until June of the following year

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