Endlicheria multiflora (Miq.) Mez

Authority

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

Family

Lauraceae

Scientific Name

Endlicheria multiflora (Miq.) Mez

Type

Type. Suriname. Without locality and date (fl [male]), Hostmann & Kappler 1163 (holotype: U; isotypes: B-n.v., BM-n.v., G, K-n.v., MO, OXF-n.v., P, S, W-n.v.)

Synonyms

Endlicheria villosa Mez, Goeppertia multiflora Miq.

Description

Species Description - Trees to 15 m. Branchlets slender to stout, midway along flush 3-6 mm diam., terete, densely rusty tomentose, the surface barely visible to concealed by the indument cover, the hairs relatively short, to 0.3 mm, crooked, erect, matted; terminal buds plump, 3 × 2 mm, the indument as on branchlets. Leaves closely spiraled at tips of current flush; petioles robust, to 2 × 0.4 cm, semi-terete, the indument as on branchlets; laminae coriaceous to stiff chartaceous, plane to subbullate, obovate to narrowly elliptic, 12-20 × 4-10 cm, the base acute to rounded, the apex obtuse to acute, acuminate for up to 1.5 cm, the margins minutely recurved throughout; upper surface dark green to olive-brown, minutely punctulate, the midrib and secondaries prominulous, the higher-order venation immersed, inconspicuous against the lamina; lower surface densely pubescent, the hairs of the midrib and secondaries ca. 0.6 mm long, crooked, densely matted, rusty red, those on the lamina greyish to translucent, 1 mm long, erect, straight or curved near tip, uniformly distributed, all vein orders raised, their prominence decreasing with rank; secondary veins 7-9 per side, ± evenly spaced, slightly more distant around midlamina, patent, diverging at 70-85° (more obtusely around midlamina), arching after midcourse, distal pairs loop-connected; tertiaries oblique to midrib, between secondaries straight to forked. Staminate inflorescences distally clustered in the axils of cataphylls, to 25 cm long with 14 lateral branches, branch orders 3-4, the highest order botryoid, or irregular, the flowers clustered, the axes densely rusty villose, the hairs 1 mm long, crooked; bracts and bracteoles persistent at anthesis, lanceolate, greyish white villose; pedicels terete, to 1 mm long, those supporting secondary flowers slightly shorter. Flowers campanulate, 2 mm diam., densely greyish white villose outside; receptacle narrowly cyathiform, 1 × 0.3 mm, slightly constricted below tepals, glabrous inside. Tepals membranaceous, ligulate, 1 × 0.6 mm (the inner whorl slightly broader), spreading to recurved at anthesis, the inner surface lightly papillose near the apex, otherwise glabrous. Stamens of whorls I and II stipitate, 0.6 mm tall, the anthers transversely oblong, 0.3 × 0.4 mm, glabrous, the apex truncate to emarginate, the connectives level with or reduced between the 2 locelli, these suborbicular, introrse, the filaments laminar, much narrower than anthers, sparsely grey-villose; whorl III stamens stipitate, 0.6 mm tall, the anthers equal to outer whorls, erect, locelli 2, extrorse-latrorse, the filaments narrower than anthers, laminar, sparsely grey-villose, the basal glands minutely stipitate, globose; whorl IV staminodial or absent, columnar; pistillode filiform. Pistillate inflorescence with indument and color as in staminate plants, but shorter and with fewer lateral branches, the flowers similar in size and shape; stamens sterile, smaller; ovary glabrous, ovoid; style slender, distinct from ovary; stigma tri-lobed, 0.4 mm diam. Fruits borne on short, terete pedicels of up to 5 × 3 mm, often subsessile and clustered; cupules hemispherical, to 1 × 1.5 cm, glabrous inside and outside, the margins entire; drupes ellipsoid, to 1.7 × 1.2 cm.

Discussion

In the Ampelodaphne species group, Endlicheria multiflora shares densely rusty tomentose branchlets and inflorescence axes with E. arenosa, E. macrophylla, E. melinonii, and E. reflectens, but the minute basal glands associated with its whorl III stamens suggest affinity with E. dictifarinosa and E. levelii. Greyish tomentose branchlets and inflorescence axes, and subsessile leaves with subcordate bases, distinguish E. dictifarinosa from E. multiflora, but delimitation from E. levelii is not as straightforward. In the Surinamese type of E. multiflora, most collections from Guyana, and two collections from adjacent Bolivar in Venezuela, branchlets and inflorescence axes bear a dense rusty tomentose cover of ca. 0.6 mm long hairs whilst material from the upper Río Negro-Río Orinoco type locality of E. levelii have a dense greyish setose-villose indumentum of 1.2 mm long hairs. On the basis therefore of indument color and length, most specimens can be assigned to either E. multiflora or E. levelii without hesitation. Conceivably intermediate conditions are found only in Cid Ferreira et al 7652 and Ducke 8920 (both from northern Para in Brazil), Maas & Tawjoeran s.n. (from Suriname), and Maguire & Fanshawe 23481 and Hoffmann et al 2029 (both from Guyana). In these specimens, new leaves have sparse sprawling rusty hairs resembling those in the several sparsely pubescent specimens of E. levelii. Yet these 0.6 mm long rust-red hairs are a magnitude of order shorter than the 1.2 mm greyish hairs of the latter. Since these specimens differ from E. levelii in both indument length and color, but from typical E. multiflora only in indument density, they are more parsimoniously assigned to the latter species. With this recourse adopted, E. multiflora and E. levelii appear allopatric with the former centered in the Guianas and the latter in central Amazonia.

Common Names

bastard silverballi, siroewaballi oenilebobandikoro

Distribution

Medium sized trees of lowland riparian forests (5-100 m) in Guyana, Suriname, and bordering areas of Brazil and Venezuela. Flowering specimens collected from June through November, fruits collected in all months but September and January.

Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Berbice Guyana South America| Demerara Guyana South America| Essequibo Guyana South America| Suriname South America| Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America|