Lonchocarpus pluvialis Rusby
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Authority
Rusby, Henry H. 1927. Descriptions of New Genera and Species of Plants Collected on the Mulford Biological Exploration of the Amazon Valley 1921-1922. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 7: 205-387.
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Family
Fabaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - (Bolivian Rain-tree.) Finely, closely, and densely gray-tomentellate throughout. Branchlets slender, terete, flexuous. Stipules not seen. Petioles about 4 cm. long, terete, ascending, somewhat shorter than the rachis. Leaflets mostly 7, opposite, the lower much smaller than the upper. Petiolules about 1 cm. long, finely grooved above. Larger blades to 1 dm. long and half as wide, oval or slightly obovate with obtuse, slightly produced base and slightly and acutely mucronate summit, entire, thin, gray-green, the terete midrib prominent beneath, the slender secondaries 12 to 15 on each side, ascending at about 45 degrees, straight except at the up-curved ends, connected by the rather crooked tertiaries. Axillary racemes pendulous, longer than the internodes, subsimple, some of the peduncles bearing 2 or 3 flowers. Racemes of the ample terminal panicles recurved. Bractlets wanting or caducous, not seen. Pedicels about 2 mm. long, articulated into small cupulate bases which persist to make the rachis nodose. Buds unopened and only partially mature, the calyx campanulate, 2 mm. long, and a little broader, shortly 5-toothed, the teeth triangular, somewhat unequal. Corolla bud 5 mm. long, oblong, obtuse. Vexillum about 8 mm. long and equally broad, deeply emarginate, the lobes with rounded summit, the base 2-auricled on each side, the basal auricles less than 1 mm. long, obtuse, the claw about as long and broad. Wings nearly as long as the vexillum, oblong with rounded summit, theauricle similar to that of the vexillum, the claw slender, nearly ,a third of the total length. Petals of the keel very slightly united above, separate below, a little shorter and wider than the wings, the auricle less obvious, the claw about the same. Stamens 1.0, monadelphous, unequal, united for two thirds of their length, about equaling the style, the anthers large, oval. Ovary densely pilose, gradually contracted into the long stout stipe, the subulate pilose style about half as long, the stigma cupulate.
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Discussion
The specific name is in allusion to the dropping of water, resembling rain, from numerous nests of caterpillars in the forks of the branches, an account of which has appeared in Tropical Woods. The species is near L. boliviensis Pittier.
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Distribution
On the road from Rurrenabaque to Reyes, 0. E. White, and H. H. Busby, October 22, 1921 (no. 1302).
Bolivia South America|