Amaioua guianensis var. macrantha Steyerm.

  • Authority

    Maguire, Bassett. 1965. The Botany of the Guayana Highland. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 12 (3): 1-285.

  • Family

    Rubiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Amaioua guianensis var. macrantha Steyerm.

  • Type

    Type. Tree 8 m high; flowers white; lowland and slope forests at camp 3, at alt. 700 m, Cerro de la Neblina, Amazonas, Venezuela, 11 Nov 1957, Bassett Maguire, John J. Wurdack d Celia K. Maguire 42025 (holotype NY). Known only from Neblina.

  • Description

    Latin Diagnosis - A var. guianensis differt calyce corollaque majoribus, calycis tubo 6-9 mm longo 4.5-5 mm lato; corollae lobis lineari-lanceolatis 13-16 mm longis 1.5-3 mm latis, tubo 10-11 mm longo superne 5-6 mm lato inferne 2-4 mm lato; pedunculis principalibus 0.8-2 cm longis; pedicellis 4-16 mm longis.

  • Discussion

    The leaves in this variety are broadly elliptic, 12-20 cm long by 5.5-10 cm broad, abruptly acuminate at the apex with an acumen 5-10 m m long, acute to obtuse at base, 12-13-nerved, with glabrate surface beneath. The petioles are 1.5-2.5 cm long. Although Schumann places A. fagifolia in synonymy under A. corymbosa, it is considered in the present treatnieiit conspecific with A. guianensis. Three specimens labeled A. fagifolia (Leprieur; Sagot 301; Melinon), in the herbaria of P and XY, originating from French Guiana, show contracted subcapitate staminate inflorescences without peduncles, and 7-10-nerved, narrowly elliptic leaf-blades simulating the southern Brazil A. intermedia var. brasiliana. The illustration of A. fagifolia (plate 5 in Mem. Mus. Par.) depicts a broader-leaved plant than shown by the French Guianan specimens cited above, although Desfontaine describes them as "obovatis."