Endlicheria klugii O.C.Schmidt

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Lauraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Endlicheria klugii O.C.Schmidt

  • Type

    Type. Colombia. Putumayo: Umbría, 325 m, Dec 1930 (fl [male]), Klug 1904 (lectotype, designated by Kostermans, 1937: NY; isolectotypes: A, B-n.v., F-n.v., GH, K-n.v., MO, S, US).

  • Description

    Species Description - Trees to 15 m. Branchlets relatively stout, midway along flush 4-5 mm diam., angular, silvery to tawny sericeous, the surface concealed by the indument cover, the hairs short, to 0.15 mm, straight, appressed; terminal buds relatively plump, 1 × 0.6 mm, rusty sericeous. Leaves alternate, widely and evenly spaced along current flush; petioles long and slender, to 7 × 0.4 cm, semi-terete, the indument as on branchlets; laminae chartaceous, plane, broadly ovate to elliptic, 12-35 × 6-18 cm, the base obtuse to rounded, rarely acute, briefly decurrent, the apex broadly acute, acuminate for up to 6 cm, the margins minutely recurved throughout; upper surface dull slate grey to olive-brown, minutely punctulate, the midrib and secondaries prominent, the higher-order venation prominulous; lower surface sparsely or densely pubescent, the hairs silvery to rust brown, appressed, uniformly distributed, the epidermis clearly visible to obscured, all vein orders raised, their prominence decreasing with rank; secondary veins 4-6 per side, ± evenly spaced, slightly more distant around midlamina, ascending at 50-60° (more obtuse around midlamina), arcuate, the lowermost pair occasionally asymmetric (one or both merging with margin at base), distal pairs loop-connected; tertiaries oblique to midrib, between secondaries straight to once-forked. Staminate inflorescences evenly spaced along current flush in the axils of foliage leaves, to 25 cm long with 9 lateral branches, branch orders 4-5, the highest order dichasial, lax, the flowers distant, the axes rusty to tawny sericeous; bracts and bracteoles caducous by anthesis, lanceolate, the indument as on axes; pedicels terete, to 2 mm long, those supporting secondary flowers slightly shorter. Flowers hypocrateriform, 2.5 mm diam., densely pubescent outside, the hairs appressed, reddish to brown; receptacle narrowly infundibuli-form, 2 × 1 mm, grey-velutinous inside. Tepals chartaceous, ligulate, 1 × 0.6 mm (the inner whorl slightly narrower), spreading at anthesis, the inner surface grey-tomentose near base, the margins and apex inside sparsely papillose, otherwise glabrous. Stamens of whorls I and II stipitate, 0.6 mm tall, the anthers narrowly ovate, 0.3 × 0.25 mm, glabrous, the apex apiculate, the connectives prolonged between the 2 locelli, these suborbiculate, introrse-latrorse, the filaments S-shaped, narrower than anthers, densely grey-tomentose; whorl III stamens broadly stipitate, 1 mm tall, the anthers depressed-obovate, 0.3 × 0.3 mm, erect, locelli 2, extrorse-latrorse, the filaments slightly narrower than anthers, ligulate, densely grey-tomentose, the basal glands sessile, minute, 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, ellipsoid; style slender, distinct from ovary, 0.6 mm long; stigma broadly tri-lobed to discoid, 0.5 mm diam. Fruits borne on stout, claviform pedicels of up to 2 × 0.8 cm; cupules shallowly infundibuliform to patelliform, to 0.4 × 1.3 cm, glabrous outside, sparsely rusty strigose inside, the margins undulate; drupes ellipsoid to obovoid, to 3 × 1.4 cm.

  • Discussion

    The S-curved whorl I and II filaments of Endlicheria klugii are unique in the genus. These curious filaments combined with the ovate anthers confer on stamens an aspect that resembles a cobra raised in strike position (Fig. IF). The flowers are themselves remarkable for their slender receptacles below horizontally spreading tepals.

    The long petioles supporting broadly ovate leaves with arcuate secondaries are sometimes matched by E. ruforamula, from which E. klugii can be distinguished, even without flowers, by its closely appressed indument on branchlets and shallow cupules with clavate pedicels.

  • Common Names

    yuwich

  • Distribution

    Small trees from the nonflooded forests of western Amazonia and adjacent eastern Andean foothills at ca. 150-1300 m. Flowering September to following March, fruits available year round.

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