Byrsonima verbascifolia (L.) DC.

  • Authority

    Maguire, Bassett. 1978. The botany of the Guayana Highland--part XI. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 32: 1-391.

  • Family

    Malpighiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Byrsonima verbascifolia (L.) DC.

  • Description

    Species Description - Gnarled shrubs up to 60 cm tall, the leaves borne in dense sessile clusters on the thick corky stem, the internodes essentially none. Lamina ofthe larger leaves 14-25(-33) cm long, 5-13(-15) cm wide, obovate or spatulate, attenuate at the base, often grading into a winged petiole, usually obtuse or rounded and apiculate at the apex, occasionally retuse, densely and usually persistently viHous above and woolly below, rarely eventually subglabrate above or on both sides, the reticulum usually prominulous above and quite prominent below (but hidden by the vesture); petiole 10-35(-80) mm long, often winged and grading into the lamina, woolly or villous; stipules 6-12 mm long, connate, the pair triangular, abaxially villous, the hairs darker brown than on the petiole, adaxiaHy glabrous. Inflorescence (15-)18-35(-42) cm long, villous or woolly, pseudoracemose or thyrsiform with the lowest cincinni pedunculate and several-flowered; bracts 5-11 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, narrowly triangular or subulate, abaxially woolly, adaxially glabrous, mostly deciduous during or soon after anthesis; bracteoles like the bracts but shorter, about half as long. Pedicel 5-10 mm long, tomentose villous, circinate in bud, decurved (always?) in fruit. Sepals all biglandular, 1.5-3 mm long beyond the glands, 1-2 mm wide, obtuse or rounded and revolute at the apex, abaxially densely tomentose, adaxiaHy glabrous, accrescent in fruit; glands 1-2 mm long. Petals yellow, glabrous. Anthers 1.8-3.3 mm long, loosely tomentose to glabrate, the connective not or hardly exceeding the apex of the locules. Ovary densely appressed-villous, 1.5-2 mm high, all 3 locules fertile; styles 3-3.5 mm long. Fruit ca 15 mm in diameter, yellow (?), globose, thinly villous.

  • Discussion

    8. Byrsonima verbascifolia (Linnaeus) de Candolle, Prodr. 1: 579. 1824. Malpighia verbascifolia Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 426. 1753. Byrsonima verbascifolia var denudata Cuatrecasas, Webbia 13(2): 605. 1958. Type. Cuatrecasas 7713, San Jose del Guaviare, Vaupes, Colombia (holotype COL, isotypes F, NY! US). Type. Linnaean Herbarium, genus 588 sheet 10 in Savage's catalogue. See discussion below. The specimen in the Linnaean Herbarium is labelled in Linnaeus' hand and is presumably the type. However, if it is the type it is certainly not an Aublet collection from French Guiana, as stated by Cuatrecasas (1958, p 605), since Aublet first went to French Guiana in 1762 (Stafleu 1971, p 282). There is nothing on the sheet to indicate the source of the specimen, neither the collector nor the country of origin. Linnaeus said in the protologue only "Habitat in America calidiore." This species is quite variable through its range; the description above is based only on the collections cited. Two additional Venezuelan collections deserve special comment. They are Maguire et al 32045, Santa Barbara, Amazonas (NY, VEN), and Killip 37232, El Negro, between Ciudad Bolivar and El Cristo, Bolivar (VEN). Both are atypical in their elongated internodes, short leaves with ± unwinged petioles, and small bracts. They may represent some unrecognized taxon close to Byrsonima verbascifolia sensu stricto, but it also seems quite possible that they resulted from hybridization between B. verbascifolia and the ubiquitous B. crassifolia.

  • Distribution

    Distribution. Open savannas of South America from Colombia and Venezuela south to Parana; also reported by Niedenzu from Cuba. Collections from Guayana: VENEZUELA. Bolivar: Rio Hacha, region de Canaima, 300 m , Agostini 357 (VEN); sabanas de Uriman, Rio Caroni, 350-400 m , Cardona 1161 (VEN); Caicara-Tauca, Dto. Sucre, Ant. Fernandez 1714 (MY); Kavanayen, Lasser 1902 (VEN); Canaima, 400 m , Rutkis & Foldats 502 (VEN); Kavanayen NW to Rio Karuai, 1220 m , Steyermark 59385 (NY); Los Hicoteos, Tama

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