Siparuna cristata (Poepp. & Endl.) A.DC.

  • Authority

    Renner, Susanne S. & Hausner, Gerlinde. 2005. Siparunaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 95: 1--247 pp. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Monimiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Siparuna cristata (Poepp. & Endl.) A.DC.

  • Type

    Type: Brazil. Amazonas: Ega (Tefé), Oct 1831, Poeppig 2664 (lectotype, P, designated by Renner & Hausner, Fl. Ec. 59: 70. 1997; isolectotypes, F, F frag, ex G-DC, G, G-BOISS, G-DC, F photo neg. 8085, GH frag. [1 leaf and some flowers], W, destroyed). Two unnumbered Poeppig collections in BM and KIEL may be further isosyntypes.

  • Synonyms

    Citriosma cristata Poepp. ex Endl., Siparuna cristata var. macrophylla A.DC., Siparuna cristata var. petiolaris A.DC., Siparuna williamsii J.F.Macbr., Siparuna obconica Jangoux, Siparuna monogyna Jangoux

  • Description

    Species Description - Monoecious treelet or tree, (3-)8-22 m tall, rarely a shrub, reaching a dbh of 45(-60) cm; young branchlets terete but flattened at the nodes, densely or sparsely covered with appressed stellate-lepidote hairs or silvery scales. Trunk straight, round, slender, and unbranched up to half the entire height. Bark yellowish or light brown and fairly smooth. Leaves opposite; petioles (0.8-) 1.5-5 cm long; lamina drying dark brown or reddish brown, stiff-chartaceous to coriaceous, oblong or elliptic, 18-27(-38) X (7-)9-14 cm, the base obtuse, acute, or shortly attenuate, the apex acuminate, mature leaves glabrous above, the lower surface with minute stellate-lepidote scales along the veins, rarely with large scales on the veins, otherwise glabrous, with 7-13 pairs of secondary veins, more or less flat above, raised below, anastomosing near the leaf margin and forming inconspicuous loops, the tertiary veins straight, parallel to each other, and densely spaced (Fig. 25), the margin entire. Cymes in the axils of extant leaves, 2.5-7 cm long, usually with numerous (20-50) flowers, the pedicels 3-7 mm long, those of male flowers gradually elongating during anthesis and becoming up to 2 cm long, covered with few or many minute scales or silvery stellate-lepidote hairs. Fresh flowers white or yellow; male flowers cup-shaped, 1.8-4 mm in diam., 1.7-3 mm high, the indumentum as on the cymes; tepals thick and semiorbiculate or forming a narrow upright rim, the floral roof a narrow membranaceous rim; stamens 10-18, fleshy and with minute anther flaps, dorsally sometimes with a few stellate hairs; female flowers subglobose, 2-4 mm in diam., 3-4 mm high, the floral roof conical; styles 3-9, often fused to a column. Fruiting receptacle pyriform to oblong, (l-)2-3.5 cm in diam., fresh and immature light green with brownish spots, mature dark red, drying black with some persistent stellate-lepidote hairs, not splitting open at maturity; drupelets 3-5, lacking a stylar aril.

  • Discussion

    Siparuna cristata has highly distinctive leaves. They are large, coriaceous, and glabrous, with the raised secondary and tertiary veins clearly visible below, and the tertiary veins crossing between adjacent secondaries in parallel paths without branching. The leaves usually dry dark brown. A checklist of the arboretum Jenaro Herrera in Amazonian Peru contains nice illustrations of S. cristata (based on Bemardi 16271, misidentified as S. lepidantha; Loizeau and Spichiger, 1987, Fig. 3 and photos 2, 4, and 5, reprinted in Spichiger et al. 1989, Fig. 89). The only species with similar leaves is S. gentryana. The main difference between these species is that S. cristata has smooth fruiting receptacles while S. gentryana has tuberculate to spiny receptacles. A specimen from Cundinamarca, Lozano et al. 7290 (COL), cited below as the only record so far of S. cristata from that department, has immature fruits and is therefore not entirely securely distinguishable from S. gentryana. Geographically, however, it fits better with S. cristata than S. gentryana (see also the discussion under that species).

    As in a few other species, the mature receptacles of Siparuna cristata do not split open at maturity, and dispersal of the seeds is probably mainly by bats, primates, and ground-foraging birds as in S. decipiens and S. pachyantha (q.v.).

    Material described as Siparuna obconica by Jangoux differs from S. cristata in the obconical form of the female receptacles and in thinner and more canaliculate petioles. To our mind, these differences are not clear-cut enough to merit taxonomic recognition. Likewise, S. monogyna cannot be maintained as a species because the features that distinguished it from S. cristata (larger flower size and thicker cyme axes) disappear with the numerous collections now available. The following collections are transitional in flower size and pedicel thickness between the type of S. monogyna and “normal” S. cristata: Gentry et al. 25418, Pipoly et al. 13084, Vásquez & Jaramillo 9881, and Vásquez & Jaramillo 13010, all from Loreto in Peru. Equally transitional are 16 collections by A. Rudas and colleagues from the Parque Nacional de Amacayacu in Colombia, which show a continuous range in flower size from small to medium-sized to very large, all in specimens with the exact same leaves, cymes, and indumentum.

  • Common Names

    comino, asna huayo, isula huayo, picho huayo hoja grande, numi kuasik

  • Distribution

    Siparuna cristata occurs in non-flooded tropical rain forest at elevations from 100 to 750 m, rarely to 1200 m (Cordillera de Cutucú), from Panama through Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil to the Guianas; expected in Surinam.

    Coclé Panamá Central America| Panamá Panama Central America| San Blás Panamá Central America| Amazonas Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America| Caquetá Colombia South America| Chocó Colombia South America| Cundinamarca Colombia South America| Amazonas Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| French Guiana South America| Morona-Santiago Ecuador South America| Orellana Ecuador South America| Pastaza Ecuador South America| Amazonas Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Puno Peru South America| Acre Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America|