Eschweilera laevicarpa S.A.Mori
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Authority
Mori, S. A. 1987. The Lecythidaceae of a lowland Neotropical Forest: La Fumée mountain, French Guiana. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 44: 1-190.
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Family
Lecythidaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Latin Diagnosis - Ab E. decolorans cortice sculpto; marginibus calycis undulatis; et fructibus laevibus differt.
Species Description - Medium-sized tree, to 30 m tall. Bark gray, smooth, with irregular depressions left by sloughing bark, the outer bark less than 1 mm thick, the inner bark 7-10 mm thick, light yellow. Leaf blades elliptic, 9-22 x 5-8 cm, glabrous, without punctae, chartaceous, with 9-13 pairs of lateral veins; apex acuminate; base acute, obtuse, or rounded; margins entire; petiole 7-15 mm long. Inflorescences terminal, less frequently axillary, racemose, the rachis 4.5-20 cm long, glabrous, the pedicel 12 mm long, glabrous. Flowers turn a distinct bluish-green when bruised; calyx with six ascending, markedly imbricate, widely oblong lobes, 12-17 x 11-14 mm, the margins slightly undulate; petals white; hood of androe-cium with double coil, white outside, yellow inside; filaments white, the anthers yellow; hypan-thium glabrous; ovary 2-locular, each locule with ca. nine basally attached ovules, the summit elevated, the style obconical, not well differentiated from summit. Fruits cup-shaped, the calycine ring always inserted above middle, the supra-calycine zone erect to abruptly tapered inward, always less than 1 cm wide, the infracalycine zone obtuse to rounded at base, 2.5-5 x 4.5-7 cm (excluding operculum), the pericarp 5-8 mm thick, the outside dotted with numerous white lenticels; operculum slightly convex, with low rounded umbo. Seeds with lateral aril.
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Discussion
Type. Brazil. Amazonas: Municipality of Humaitá, on plateau between Rio Livramento and Rio Ipixuna, 7-18 Nov 1934 (fr), Krukoff 7183 (holotype, NY; isotype, MO). Eschweilera laevicarpa is most closely related to the sympatric E. decolorans (Figs. VI-6, 7). These are the only two described species of the genus that show a bluish-green coloration when their flowers and fruits are bruised, a feature also found in all species of Couroupita and several species of Lecythis (Prance & Mori, 1977; Mori & Prance, 1981). Both occur in French Guiana where we have observed them flowering with only slight phenological separation (Fig. XI-4) and growing in similar habitats. The new species differs from E. decolorans in its sculptured instead of non-sculptured bark; slightly undulate instead of non-undulate calyx-lobe margins; smooth instead of rough fruit exterior; and rounded instead of truncate fruit base (Fig. IV-4). A more detailed description of the bark is provided in Chapter VIII.
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Distribution
Distribution. A widespread species of non-inundated forest ranging from French Guiana across central Amazonia into southwestern Amazonia. Flowers have been collected in Aug and Sep in French Guiana. Fruits, at varying stages of maturity, have been collected throughout its range from Nov to Mar.
French Guiana South America|