Persea ferruginea Kunth

  • Authority

    Kopp, Lucille E. 1966. A tasonomic revision of the genus Persea in the Western Hemisphere (Perseae-Lauraceae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 14: 1-117.

  • Family

    Lauraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Persea ferruginea Kunth

  • Description

    Species Description - Tree to 18 m.; branchlets angular, coarse, densely ferrugineous-tomentose; petioles 1-2 cm., dilated, densely ferrugineous-tomentose; leaf-blades 3-9 cm. long, 2-6 cm. wide, coriaceous, broadly elliptic to ovate, the tips acute to rounded, the bases truncate to subcordate, the upper surface glabrescent, the lower surface densely ferrugineous-tomentose, the costa broad, impressed above, prominent beneath, the 5-7 pairs of primary veins divergent at 45-65°, slightly impressed above, prominent beneath, the reticulation obscure above, very prominent beneath. Inflorescence a compact axillary panicle, equal to the shorter subtending inflorescence leaves, the branchlet appearing as one large terminal inflorescence; peduncles coarse, shorter toward branchlet tip, densely ferrugineous-tomentose; pedicels 2-3 mm., slender, ferrugineous-tomentose; flowers 5-7 mm. long; outer perianth-segments 1.8-2.4 mm. long, 2-2.4 mm. wide, densely ferrugineous-tomentose without, glabrous within; inner perianth-segments 3.8-4.5 mm. long, 2-2.8 mm. wide, ovate, ferrugineous-tomentose without and within; stamens 3 mm. long, the anthers about 1 mm., the filaments about 2 mm., the filaments of series I and II with subcrisped pubescence, the anthers oblong-ovate to ovate, glabrous, quadrilocular; filaments of series III with subcrisped pubescence, the glands subsessile and adnate to the basal 1/3-2/5 of the filament, the anthers oblong, quadrilocular; staminodia of series IV sagittate; gynoecium glabrous, the ovary subglobose; style 1.5-2 mm.; stigma discoid-peltate. Infructescence not seen.

    Distribution and Ecology - Distribution. Southwestern Ecuador mostly at 2800-4000 m., and perhaps in Peru.

  • Discussion

    Persea humboldtii Mez, Jahrb. Bot. Gart. Berlin 5: 158. 1889.

    Type collection. A. von Humboldt & A. Bonpland s.n. Loja, Eucador. (holotype P, only fragment examined).

    Two Pearce collections have been included in this species. One sheet, numbered Lauraceae II, is very easily recognized, but the second, Lauraceae I, was obtained from a higher elevation. T h e pubescence is not as tightly crisped and the reticulation is not as prominent as in other members of the species. The only locality data given by Pearce is "Huayacani" on one sheet and "Huaycani" on the other. MacBride in the Flora of Peru uses the spelling "Huaicani," and indicates by placing it among Peruvian citations that the locality is in that country.

    The nomenclature of P- ferruginea is interwoven with that of P ruizii and complicated by it. In 1797 Ruiz and Pavon described Laurus ferruginea which was based on one of their collections. Persea ferrugina was described by Kunth in 1817 from a Bonpland collection. When Meissner monographed the Lauraceae for DeCandolle's Prodromus, he merged them under the name P. ferruginea H.B.K. The Mez monograph which appeared later treated them as separate species of Persea. Mez called the Ruiz and Pavon species (formerly L. ferruginea) P. ferruginea, and the HBK species (formerly P. ferruginea) P. humboldtii Mez. MacBride recognized the error, renamed the Ruiz and Pavon material P. ruizii MacBride, and retained P. ferruginea H B K.