Cecropia hololeuca Miq.
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Authority
Berg, Cornelius C. & Franco Rosselli, Pilar. 2005. Cecropia. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 94: 1--230. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Urticaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Brazil. Without locality, Pohl s.n. (holotype: W, destroyed), neotype here designated: Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: Mun. Rio de Janeiro, Corcovado, Aug 1890 ([female] fl-fr), Glaziou 18497 (IAN; isoneotypes: A, BM, C, E, G, K, NY, P).
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Synonyms
Cecropia candida Snethl., Ambaiba hololeuca (Miq.) Kuntze
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Description
Species Description - Tree, to 25 m tall. Leafy twigs 2-8 cm thick, green or slightly bluish to brown, glabrous, hirsute to villous, and/or with arachnoid indumentum or sometimes with only brown pluricellular hairs. Lamina coriaceous, ca. 40 × 40 cm to 120 × 120 cm, the segments 8-10, the free parts of the upper segments oblong to subobovate to oblanceolate, the incisions down to 7/10-9/10; apices rounded to obtuse to short-acuminate; upper surface glabrous, with ± dense arachnoid indumentum; lower surface with arachnoid indumentum in the areoles and on the smaller veins, or also on the main veins; lateral veins in the free part of the midsegment 12-15 pairs, submarginally loop-connected, branched or unbranched; petiole 30-95 cm long, glabrous, with arachnoid indumentum or also hirsute to subvillous at the base, or only with brown pluricellular hairs; trichilia absent; stipules 10-40 cm long, yellowish white to brownish, (partly) pale yellow to white-sericeous or -villous or also (or only) with dense brown pluricellular hairs and/or with (sometimes dense) arachnoid indumentum outside, densely sericeous inside. Staminate inflorescences in pairs, erect; peduncle 5-12 cm long, red to purplish, glabrous or (sub)villous at the base or also at the apex, with dense brown pluricellular hairs and/or sparse arachnoid indumentum; spathe lacking or with only bracts on the upper part of the peduncle, these to 0.5 cm long, caducous; spikes 9-17, 5-15 × 0.5-1 cm, often ± moniliform, wine-red to dark purple to almost black, with stipes 0.8-2.5 cm long and glabrous; rachis hairy, with straight hairs or also arachnoid ones. Staminate flowers: perianth tubular, ca. 2 mm long, with short and stiff hairs in the ribes below the apex or glabrous, the apex almost plane; filaments flat; anthers ca. 0.6-0.8 mm long, short-appendiculate, detached and reattached to margins of the aperture at anthesis (?). Pistillate inflorescences in pairs, erect, pendulous in fruit; peduncle 5-17 cm long, glabrous or (sub)villous, red(dish); spathe absent, but with 1 or 2 bracts on the upper part or the apex of the peduncle, these to 1.5(-8) cm long, caducous; spikes 1 or 2 (rarely 3), 5-12 × 0.5-1 cm, to 35 × 3 cm in fruit, initially red to purplish, turning blackish, sessile or with stipes to 1.5 cm long and glabrous or hairy; rachis hairy. Pistillate flowers: perianth ca. 2-2.5 mm long, with arachnoid indumentum below the apex outside, also in the lower part of the style channel inside, the apex ± convex, muriculate; style rather long, straight; stigma penicillate. Fruit ellipsoid to oblongoid, ca. 3-4 mm long, ± tuberculate, dark brown.
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Discussion
Cecropia hololeuca is the only species of the genus lacking the characteristic spathe, fully enclosing the spikes before anthesis. Instead of the spathe, one or sometimes two bracts are found at the apex or just below the apex of the peduncle. These bracts are mostly to 1.5 cm long, sometimes to 8 cm long. The inflorescence remains enclosed in the apical bud until anthesis. This species resembles several Andean montane species in the dense white arachnoid indumentum on the upper surface of the lamina and some of them in the absence of trichilia and/or the presence of either smooth or densely hairy leafy twigs.
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Common Names
imbaúba branca, imbauba vermelha, embaubaçii, imbaubuçú, embauba branca
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Distribution
Eastern Brazil, in moist forest, in mountainous and hilly regions, at elevations to 1300 m.
Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| Brazil South America|