Ocotea sprucei (Meisn.) Mez
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Authority
Maguire, Bassett & Wurdack, John J. 1964. The botany of the Guayana Highland--Part V. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 10: 1-278.
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Family
Lauraceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Latin Diagnosis - Infructescentia robusta, atro-rubescens, glabrescens, quam 7 cm amplior. Fructus caeruleus fide coll., griseo-brunnescens, in sicco oblongus, obtuse rotundatus, saepe fide coll. globosus subglobosusve, ad 16 X 10 mm, ad partem tertiam inclusus in cupula rubescenti fide coll., cyathiformi, 10-15 mm longa et 12-15 mm diam. ad marginem, et ad 7 mm alt., stipite ad 9 mm longo, pedicello satis incrassato, ad 5 mm longo ad apicem ad 2 mm lato.
Distribution and Ecology - Distribution. Small tree or shrub (large tree according to Mez) with creamcolored, dioecious flowers, found in Brazil along the Rio Negro and in Amazonas, Venezuela, along the Orinoco and its tributaries, and in the region of Rio Guainia.
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Discussion
Mespilodaphne sprucei Meissner in DC. Prodr. 15: 97. 1864 (only Spruce No. 2149);
Oreodaphne myriantha Meissner in DC. Prodr. 15: 120. 1864 (isotype. Spruce 3069, fl, NY) (excl. var.); Ocotea myriantha (Meissner) Mez, Jahrb. Bot. Gart. Berlin 5: 332. 1889.
Type. Prope San Gabriel da Cachoeira, ad Rio Negro, Spruce 2149 (isotype, [male] fl. NY).
Vernacular Names. Laurel (Williams); Dahuri (Guariquena, Williams).
Spruce, according to Mez, has indicated that the type of Mespilodaphne sprucei is from a tall tree 40-45 m in height, and that the branchlets are densely ferruginous-tomentellous, the latter fact not borne out by an examination of the isotype.
The fruit of neither of the two species recognized by Meissner has been heretofore noted. The Chicago sheet of Williams 15573 apparently belongs to the taxon that I consider to include both species exclusive of their varieties. Mez excluded the variety and all other collections cited by Meissner, retaining only the type of M. sprucei cited above.
It will be noted that Meissner placed his species in different tribes: Mespilodaphne, a genus of the Cryptocaryeae, with fruits entirely or partially included in the cupule; Oreodaphne, a genus of the Oreodaphneae, with fruits not included in the cupule. Since Meissner apparently had no fruits of M. sprucei and possibly, according to Mez, only an unattached fruit from the Gottingen Herbarium specimen of O. myriantha, it is difficult to understand his disposition of the two entities, for other differences given appear to be merely differences of degree and not factors of value for supergeneric delimitation.