Cecropia concolor Willd.

Authority

Berg, Cornelius C. & Franco Rosselli, Pilar. 2005. Cecropia. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 94: 1--230. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family

Urticaceae

Scientific Name

Cecropia concolor Willd.

Type

Type. Brazil. Para: Without locality, ([female]), Sieber in herb. Hoffmannsegg s.n. (holotype: B in herb. Willdenow, destroyed, photographs in F, G, MO, US), herewith replaced by: Brazil. Para: Mun. Belem, Mocambo, 8 Oct 1995 ([male]), Berg 1721 (neotype: MG; isoneotypes: B, BG, COL, INPA, NY, RB, U, UB). Fig. 17

Synonyms

Cecropia leucocoma Miq., Cecropia obovata Rusby, Cecropia maranhensis Snethl., Ambaiba concolor (Willd.) Kuntze

Description

Species Description - Tree, to 15 m tall; stem with prominent stipular scars. Leafy twigs 1.5-4 cm thick, green with yellow spots to purplish-brown, hispidulous, with curved or uncinate hairs, or also with sparse to rather dense arachnoid indumentum. Lamina subcoriaceous to chartaceous, ca. 30 × 30 cm to 65 × 65 cm, the segments (7-)8-10(-11), the free parts of the upper segments oblong to subobovate to oblanceolate, entire or ± sinuate (or if juvenile, then to lobate), the incisions down to 1.5(-2.5) cm from the petiole; apices short-acuminate to (sub)acute to obtuse; upper surface smooth to scabridulous, sparsely puberulous to sub-hispidulous, also with sparse to rather dense arachnoid indumentum, along the main veins often with brown pluricellular hairs; lower surface minutely puberulous on the main veins, with arachnoid indumentum in the areoles, on the smaller veins, or, at least initially, also on the main veins; lateral veins in the free part of the midsegment 16-24 (or if juvenile to 30) pairs, marginally loop-connected, mostly branched; petiole 25-50 cm long, sparsely puberulous and/or with sparse to (rather) dense arachnoid indumentum; trichilia fused, the brown indumentum intermixed with (sparse) short white hairs; stipules 7-15 cm long, white to pale yellow or pinkish, caducous or subpersistent, puberulous or sparsely sericeous, often with ± dense arachnoid indumentum, sometimes (also) with ± dense brown pluricellular hairs outside, ± densely sericeous inside. Staminate inflorescences in pairs or solitary, pendulous; peduncle (3.5-) 10-19 cm long, sparsely puberulous to hirtellous and with sparse to rather dense arachnoid indumentum; spathe 10-20 cm long, white to yellowish or pinkish, puberulous to hirtellous and often with dense arachnoid indumentum outside, glabrous or (densely) sericeous inside; spikes (8-) 15-20, (1-)6-15 × 0.2-0.4 cm, with stipes 0.2-2 cm long and hairy or subglabrous; rachis hairy. Staminate flowers: perianth tubular, 0.8-1.5 mm long, glabrous, the apex almost plane; filaments slightly swollen; anthers 0.5-0.6 mm long, appendiculate, detached at anthesis, reattached at the margins of the aperture by the appendages (?). Pistillate inflorescences in pairs or solitary, pendulous; peduncle (3.5-) 10-22 cm long, puberulous to hirtellous and with sparse to rather dense arachnoid indumentum; spathe 10-17 cm long, the color and indumentum as in the staminate inflorescence; spikes 4, (2-) 5-18 × 0.4-1 cm, to 29 × 1-1.5 cm in fruit, sessile or with stipes to 1(-1.5) cm long and hairy: rachis hairy. Pistillate flowers: perianth 1.5-2.5 mm long, with arachnoid indumentum on and below the apex, absent inside, the apex plane; style short; stigma (sub)peltate. Fruit ellipsoid to ovoid to oblongoid, 1.5-2.5 mm long, ± tuberculate.

Discussion

In subjuvenile material, the incisions of the lamina are often not down to (near) the petiole, but up to 4 cm from it. This feature is occasionally retained even at flowering state. This could be problematic in areas where the ranges of Cecropia concolor and C. pachystachya (could) overlap in the southern part of the Amazon basin or where the taxa may intergrade. To be on the safe side, collections from Maranhão and Amazonas with less deeply incised laminas have been included in C. pachystachya in the present treatment. The lamina segments are often rather pronouncedly lobate in (sub)juvenile plants. In this respect the species resembles C. metensis and C. pachystachya, but it clearly differs from C. engleriana, in which lobation of lamina segments in (sub)juvenile states is less apparent or common. The number of lateral veins in juvenile material can be occasionally up to 30 pairs, exceeding the maximum of 24 pairs of adult material and thus extending into the normal range of adult material of C. engleriana. The trees are small to medium-sized (to ca. 15 m tall). In the middle and lower Amazon basin, they may already start to produce flowers on trees of 1-1.5 m tall while still unbranched. At the southern limits of species range in Bolivia (Santa Cruz), the habit may deviate. Here, the trees are mostly quite robust with relatively thick trunks and the leaves more crowded due to short intemodes. In Amazonian Brazil and adjacent Amazonian Bolivia (Beni), the petiole and the upper surface of the lamina, the petiole, and the stipules are (initially) covered with ± dense arachnoid indumentum. In other parts of Amazonian Bolivia (Cochabamba and Santa Cruz) and southern Amazonian Peru (Cuzco and Madre de Dios) the arachnoid indumentum is sparse or lacking on these parts. The type with sparse arachnoid indumentum on the petiole (etc.) has often, or in some areas always, subpersistent stipules. In the conspicuous variation of the tree habit and the regional presence of subpersistent stipules C. concolor resembles C. engleriana. A collection made in Colombia [Vichada: Mun. Puerto Carreño, Cerro El Bita, área del Jardin Botánico, 30 Jan 1997 ([female] fr), H. Garcia et al 60 (COL)], far outside the known range of distribution, may have been introduced.

Common Names

imbaúba branca, ama’-y-puku, ama’-y-tuwir, imbaúba branca, ambaibo negro

Distribution

Lower and central Amazon basin, extending to Bolivia and southern Amazonian Peru (Cuzco and Madre de Dios), commo in secondary growth, in non-inundated places or (in the southwestern part of its range) sometimes in temporary inundated places, at low elevations.

Amazonas Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Maranhão Brazil South America| Mato Grosso Brazil South America| Beni Bolivia South America| Cochabamba Bolivia South America| La Paz Bolivia South America| Pando Bolivia South America| Santa Cruz Bolivia South America| Cusco Peru South America| Madre de Dios Peru South America|