Combretum pyramidatum Desv. ex Ham.

  • 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 pyramidatum Desv. ex Ham.

  • Type

    Type. French Guiana, no date, Desvaux s.n. (holotype, P). A specimen collected by J. Martin in French Guiana before 1826 (P) is also possibly a syntype.

  • Synonyms

    Combretum laurifolium Mart., Combretum phaeocarpum Mart., Combretum nitidum Spruce ex Eichler, Combretum laurifolium var. nitidum (Spruce ex Eichler) Marquete & C.Valente

  • Description

    Species Description - Usually a woody liana to 20 m, in the absence of support a shrub with decumbent long branches or a shrub to 4 m, or even a tree to 15 m with trunk to 18 cm; combretaceous hairs (often very scarce) and peltate scales present. Leaves opposite, coriaceous, 4-20 × 2-12.5 cm, narrowly oblong-ovate to broadly elliptic or almost orbicular, gradually or abruptly shortly to long acuminate, acute, obtuse or rounded at apex, cuneate to subcordate or sometimes cordate at base, hairless or almost so, moderately to rather densely lepidote abaxially, sparsely or very sparsely so adaxially, the scales usually inconspicuous to naked eye, dark or whitish in color according to maturity. Venation usually eucamptodromous-brochidodromous, sometimes eucamptodromous or brochidodromous; midvein moderate, prominent to moderately so; secondary veins 7-17 pairs, close to distant, not to slightly or sometimes moderately prominent; lesser veins not prominent. Petiole 0.3-1.4 cm, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, inconspicuously lepidote. Inflorescences sparsely to extensively branched, slender, in opposite pairs in leaf-axils, 2-7 cm, usually aggregated into terminal panicles to 27 cm, at the lower nodes in axils of normal leaves (often fallen by fruiting), at the upper nodes without subtending leaves, glabrous to densely pubescent or rarely tomentose, inconspicuously lepidote. Flowers borne densely on rhachis, tetramerous, 2.6-3.5 mm, moderately to densely but usually very inconspicuously lepidote on outside; lower hypanthium 1.1-1.3 mm, without pedicel-like proximal region, pubescent to very sparsely so; upper hypanthium 1.5-2.9 × 1.5-3.4 mm, deeply cupuliform, glabrous to sparsely pubescent outside, subglabrous to pubescent inside (degree not correlated to pubescence outside); calyx lobes 0.2-0.3 mm, erect, subacute to obtuse; petals 4, 0.7-1.5 × 1.1-1.6 mm, well exceeding calyx lobes, patent at full anthesis, broadly spathulate with limb transversely oblong-elliptic and rounded or irregular at apex, with basal claw 0.1-0.3 mm, glabrous; stamens 8, well exserted, with filaments 3.5-4.8 mm; disk glabrous to densely pubescent at margin, without or with narrow free margin to 0.15 mm; style 3.8-5.3 mm, usually exserted ca. as far as stamens, glabrous; ovules 1-2. Fruit very variable; 1.5-4.5 × 0.7-1.7 cm, ovate or elliptic to narrowly so in side view, rounded to narrowly cuneate at base, with thick to narrow pseudostipe 0-0.6 cm, rounded to acute or acuminate and sometimes minutely apiculate at apex, hairless or nearly so, moderately to densely but minutely lepidote especially on body; body much thickened with spongy tissue; ridges 4, stiff, 0-0 3 cm wide, sometimes spirally twisted undulate. Scales as in C. laxum. Reproductive biology. Flowers white cream-colored or yellow (probably progressively with age), strongly sweetly scented; no pollinators noted but surely insect pollinated. The fruits vary in morphology but always have spongy tissue rendering them buoyant in rivers and lakes. Flowering (June) August to October; fruiting August to June.

  • Discussion

    Illustrations. Figs. 33j (trichome), 60f (fl), 61v-z (fr). Eichler (1867), pi. 31 (as Combretum nitidum)', Marquete Ferreira da Silva & Valente (1996), p. 37 (as C. laurifolium var. nitidum); Stace & Alwan (1998), p. 343 (as C. laurifolium).

    For 40 years I tried to maintain the distinction between Combretum laurifolium and C. pyramidatum as defined by Eichler and Exell, but the differences between the two relate only to the leaf-shape, and it is clear from the review of large numbers of specimens that all intermediate leaf-shapes occur. Most material identified as C. laurifolium (including the type) has oblong-ovate leaves with a gradually acuminate apex, while that assigned to C. pyramidatum has elliptic leaves with a rounded apex. Convincing intermediates, with a shortly and abruptly acuminate to apiculate apex, are frequent. The type of Combretum nitidum is of this sort; it was actually diagnosed by its small distinctive fruits, but these are all galled. Combretum phaeocarpum differs from C. pyramidatum sensu stricto only in its densely pubescent fruits.

    Four-lobed galls as in Combretum laxum and the type of C. nitidum are common, often replacing all the fruits.

    Although there is great variation in fruit shape, all fruits fall within the narrow-winged corky type described under Combretum laxum. These all possess a copious volume of spongy material and in view of the almost exclusively riverine habitat of the species are probably water-dispersed. Combretum pyramidatum differs from specimens of C. laxum with narrowwinged fruits only in the much thicker coriaceous leaves. Although both species have been collected from the same locality in parts of Amazonia, it is quite possible that they are not specifically distinct. Nevertheless specimens that are not obviously assignable to one or the other are very rare, and with our present knowledge the two taxa can be kept separate. Moreover specimens of C. laxum rather rarely possess the leaf-shape of typical C. laurifolium, which is the most common leaf-shape in C. pyramidatum sensu lato, and the fruits of C. pyramidatum more often fall at the top end of the size range of those of C. laxum.

  • Common Names

    Hoja de mono, yacaré-shipú, bejuco de babilla, tototo

  • Distribution

    Mostly a plant of riverside or lakeside primary forests, usually at least seasonally inundated, but sometimes in drier secondary forests, or scrub, on clayey or sandy soils, at 35-300 m. A species typical of lowland Amazonia in Brazil, Venezuela, and the Guianas, extending westwards to eastern Ecuador and Peru and southwards to almost 15° S in Bolivia.

    Amazonas Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Tocantins Brazil South America| Roraima Brazil South America| Mato Grosso Brazil South America| Loreto Peru South America| Beni Bolivia South America| La Paz Bolivia South America| Santa Cruz Bolivia South America| Orellana Ecuador South America| Sucumbíos Ecuador South America| Inini French Guiana South America| Berbice Guyana South America| Essequibo Guyana South America| Madre de Dios Peru South America| Marowijne Suriname South America| Saramacca Suriname South America| Amazonas Venezuela South America| Anzoátegui Venezuela South America| Apure Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Delta Amacuro Venezuela South America| Amazonas Colombia South America| Meta Colombia South America| Vaupés Colombia South America| Vichada Colombia South America| French Guiana South America| Demerara Guyana South America|