Combretum duarteanum Cambess.

  • Authority

    Stace, C. A. & Alwan, A.-R A. 2010. Combretaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 107: 1-369. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Combretaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Combretum duarteanum Cambess.

  • Type

    Type. Brazil. Minas Gerais: In sylvis prope pagum Contendas, Duarte s.n. (holotype, P; isotype, P).

  • Synonyms

    Combretum anfractuosum Mart., Combretum geheebii Van Heurck & Müll.Arg., Combretum anfractuosum var. macrostachyum Hassl.

  • Description

    Species Description - Tree 3-10 m or shrub 0.7-6 m, sometimes with flexuous branches; combretaceous hairs (only inside flowers), stalked glands and peltate scales present. Leaves opposite, chartaceous, 2.8-14.4 × 1.5-7.9 cm, elliptic, ovate or obovate, shortly acuminate to acute or subacute at apex, rounded to cuneate at base, with stalked glands absent to sparse on midvein of abaxial surface, moderately to contiguously lepidote abaxially, moderately to densely lepidote adaxially, with whitish to yellowish scales. Venation as in C. monetaria except secondary veins 6-12 pairs. Petiole 0.1-1 cm, densely to contiguously lepidote, without or with sparse stalked glands. Inflorescences simple or rarely weakly branched, in leaf-axils; rhachis 0.5-4 cm in flower; peduncle 0.5-3 cm, the whole becoming to 7 cm in fruit, the axis contiguously whitish- to orange-lepidote at least in flower and sometimes with sparse stalked glands. Flowers tetramerous, 4.8-8.5 mm; lower hypanthium 1.2-2.5 mm, with pedicel-like proximal region 0-0.5 mm, densely to contiguously lepidote; upper hypanthium 3.3-6 × 2.5-4 mm, with proximal infundibuliform region 1.8-4 mm, much longer than distal shallowly cupuliform region 1.1-2 mm excl. calyx lobes, moderately to densely lepidote on outside, glabrous inside; calyx lobes triangular, 0.8-1 mm, erect, acute at apex; petals 4, 2-3.5 × 0.7-1.2 mm, oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, rounded or truncate to retuse at apex, exserted and erect at anthesis, glabrous; stamens 8, well exserted, with filaments 4-5.5 mm; disk densely pubescent, with free portion 0.2-1 mm; style 4.5-8.5 mm, exserted ca. as far as filaments, glabrous; ovules 2-4. Fruit 1.4-4 × 0.8-2.3 cm, elliptic or obovate to narrowly so in side view, cuneate to rounded or retuse at base, with pseudostipe 0.1-0.6 cm, rounded to truncate or slightly retuse and often apiculate at apex, with contorted wings and with a series of conspicuous bulges along the juncture of the wings and body (anfractuose), moderately to densely whitish- to orange-lepidote on body, more sparsely so on wings; wings 4, fairly stiff, 0.3-0.6 cm wide. Scales as in C. monetaria except ca. 80-200 µm diam, and with 25-60 marginal cells. Reproductive biology. Flowers white, greenish, cream-colored, yellow, red, evidently starting pale and turning red with age, scented; petals and stamens cream-colored or red. Flowering September to February; fruiting most months of year, primarily December to July.

  • Discussion

    Illustrations. Figs. 33d (trichome), 34c (fl), 35e (fr). Bezerra Loloiola & Ferreira de Sales (1998), p. 176; Eichler (1867), fl, pl. 34 (as C. anfractuosum); Exell (1953), fl, p. 111; Marquete Ferreira da Silva & Valente (2003), p. 168.

    Exell (1953) separated Combretum pisonioides from C. duarteanum on the basis of its smaller leaves and more glandular young branchlets. In addition his drawings show a shorter flower (using the scale provided, 5.6 mm as opposed to 7-8.6 mm long) with shorter stamens and relatively longer and more pointed calyx lobes. The drawing of C. pisonioides was of the type (Glaziou 15325) and agrees with my observations. Although the leaves and flowers of C. pisonioides are smaller than those of C. duarteanum both characters overlap and the only reliable differences are the fruit and inflorescence morphology. Leaf size is difficult to utilize because the leaves enlarge consider- ably between flowering and fruiting. Exell separated C. monetaria from the other two species by its more or less orbicular (versus elliptic) fruits, but all intermediates occur and there are no other differences between C. monetaria and C. pisonioides, which are here therefore amalgamated.

    Even without fruits Combretum duarteanum can be confused with only C. monetaria (see above for differences) or C. leprosum, which often has similarly whitish lepidote leaves and inflorescences resembling the more elongated ones of the former, but the leaves of C. leprosum usually become much larger, the flowers are of a quite different shape, there are no stalked glands and the fruits are not anfractuose.

  • Common Names

    vaqueta, cipauba, mofumbo, mirueira, vaquetinha rasteira, caatinga branca

  • Distribution

    Mostly in deciduous forests, secondary forests, savanna woodlands or scrub (mata), sometimes in riverside gallery forests or by rivers in mata, usually on sand or in rocky ground but also on clay, at 176-820 m. Scattered in eastern Brazil southwards from ca. 3° S to central Paraguay at ca. 23° S, extending westwards to Bolivia at 65° W.

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