Endlicheria glomerata Mez

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Lauraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Endlicheria glomerata Mez

  • Type

    Type. Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: Maua, 15 November 1874 (fl [female]), Glaziou 7781 (lectotype, designated by Kostermans, 1937: P; isolectotypes: B-n.v., K).

  • Description

    Species Description - Trees to 8 m. Branchlets slender to stout, midway along flush 4-8 mm diam., terete, densely pubescent, the surface concealed by the indument cover, the hairs yellowish, 0.4-1 mm long, straight to crooked, erect; terminal buds plump, 1 × 0.5 cm, densely pubescent, the hairs as on branchlets, ascending. Leaves spiraled at tips of current flush; petioles robust, to 3.5 × 0.4 cm, semi-terete, the indument as on branchlets; laminae chartaceous, bullate (rarely plane), obovate to elliptic, 17-32 × 4-13 cm, the base obtuse, the apex obtuse to acute, acuminate for up to 2 cm, the margins minutely recurved throughout; upper surface light green to olive-brown, the midrib and secondaries convex between bullae (prominulous when laminae plane), the higher-order venation raised; lower surface moderately to densely pubescent, the hairs as on branchlets, slightly denser on main veins, all vein orders raised, their prominence decreasing with rank; secondary veins 10-14 per side, ± evenly spaced, slightly more distant around midlamina, patent, diverging at 70-85° (more obtuse 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 20 cm long with 12 lateral branches, branch orders 3-4, the highest order condensed, the flowers clustered, the axes densely yellowish to rusty pubescent, the hairs as on branchlets; bracts and bracteoles persistent at anthesis, ovate, the indument as on axes; pedicels terete, to 0.5 mm long, reduced to lacking below secondary flowers. Flowers campanulate, 2.5 mm diam., grey-villose to glabrous outside; receptacle cyathiform, 0.5 × 0.6 mm, constricted below tepals, silvery sericeous inside. Tepals chartaceous, broadly ovate, 1 × 0.8 mm, erect to spreading at anthesis, the inner surface glabrous, the margins papillose. Stamens of whorls I and II stipitate, 0.6 mm tall, the anthers depressed-ovate, 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, glabrous; whorl III stamens stipitate, equal to outer whorls, the anthers depressed-ovate, 0.3 × 0.4 mm, erect, locelli 2, extrorse-latrorse, the filaments narrower than anthers, laminar, glabrous, the basal glands sessile, globose; whorl IV wanting; pistillode fusiform. 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 slender, distinct from ovary; stigma trilobed, 0.3 mm diam. Fruits borne on short terete pedicels of up to 5 × 3 mm, often sessile; cupules hemispherical, to 0.5 × 1 cm, glabrous inside and outside, the margins entire; drupes ellipsoid, to 2.5 × 1.5 cm.

  • Discussion

    Endlicheria glomerata alone of the Ampelodaphne species group inhabits the Atlantic coastal forests of SE Brazil. In most flowering specimens, a long hirsute vestiture of stiffly erect yellowish 1 mm hairs combines with bullate laminae and densely clustered subsessile pubescent flowers. This character combination is unique to E. glomerata but appears to be unstable. Laminae range from strongly bullate in Mexia 5138, through moderately so in the type material, to plane in Glaziou 18451 and Oliveira et al 770 without accompanying vegetative or floral differences.

    Two other indument variants show parallel instability in bullae formation. The specimens from Parque Estadual do Rio Doce (Costa s.n. BHCB 32676, Heringer 18530, 18580, and 16026, Heringer & Eiten 15083 and 15154, Lombardi 1987, and Martinelli et al 23), have a much shorter indumentum of 0.4 mm hairs, while in Hatschbach et al 57930, Hatschbach & Silva 52169, and Sucre 7799 vegetative indument is as in typical material but distal inflorescence branches and flowers are glabrous. Attaching specific importance to the single character that distingishes both variants from typical material would result in three very similar, and sympatric, species that cannot be confused with others in the genus, but probably with each other-in my opinion an unnecessary inflation of species diversity.

  • Common Names

    canela, canelao

  • Distribution

    Small trees from the lower montane Atlantic coastal forests of SE Brazil at 200-700 m. Flowering specimens collected in May, July, September, October, and November. Fruits collected in April, June, July, August, and November.

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