Bellucia aequiloba Pilg.
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Authority
Renner, Susanne S. 1989. Systematic studies in the Melastomataceae Bellucia, Loreya and Macairea. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 50: 1-112.
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Family
Melastomataceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Tree, (6-) 10-21 x 0.10-0.25 m; bark scaly, flaky, gray-brown. Leaves 21-42 x 12-39 cm, broadly ovate, shortly acuminate, rounded at base, blades with the inner pair of lateral primaries departing ca. 1 cm above the base, lower leaf surface reddish villose to sublanate; petioles 3-6.5 cm long. Cymes 2-3-branched, on branches below the leaves and on the trunk, reddish pilose; pedicels 5-12 mm long. Flowers 5-merous; hypanthium ca. 9 mm long, reddish pilose; calyx dehiscing into five thick, triangular lobes, 6-8 mm long, persistent; petals 15-18 (-20) mm long, white, pink-flushed outside; filaments 8-9 mm long, thecae 6-7 mm long; ovary 10-locular; style 20-22 mm long. Fruit a greenish-yellow berry. Seeds ca. 0.7 mm long, ovoid, irregularly tuberculate and with shallow grooves.
Distribution and Ecology - Distribution and ecology (Fig. 6): Bellucia aequiloba occurs in the southem subandean part ofthe Amazon basin in seasonally inundated forest along rivers; in La Paz province in Bolivia, it inhabits submontane forest at elevations of 300-1500 m; it is occasional in advanced secondary vegetation.
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Discussion
Type: Brazil. Acre: Jurua-Mirim, Cruzeiro do Sul, Aug 1901, Ule 5664 (lectotype here designated: HBG!; isolectotypes: G!, MG!, F photo neg. 17249!). Holotype at B destroyed, but represented by a photo, F neg. 17249!
Figs. IE, 5A-D.
A collection from Pando province in Bolivia (Fernandez Casas & Susanna 8201) suggests hybridization between Bellucia aequiloba and B. pentamera; the specimen has much-branched inflorescences borne on the old wood like those of typical B. aequiloba, but in the relatively short length of its sepals and the scarce pubescence of the lower leaf surface it resembles B. pentamera.
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Common Names
níspero, jambo, peras, huicama