Pera schomburgkiana (Benth.) Müll.Arg.
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Authority
Maguire, Bassett. 1967. The botany of the Guayana Highland--Part VII. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 17: 1-439.
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Family
Euphorbiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - The following supplemental description should be added to the original diagnosis: The leaves arc comparatively small, 8 cm long, 4.5 cm wide, obovato, rounded at tip. Only in two instances (Pinkus 194, Maguire & Fanshawe 32639) are they arger, up to 12 cm long, 6.5 cm wide, and acute at tip. The leaves underneath are sparingly covered with stellate-lepidote indumentum (in the type the trichomes are definite squamules, i.e., lepidote). The fruit is globose, ferrugineous-tomentose, known only from four specimens, Ducke 2002, Fanshawe 177 (small), Pinkus 194, RB 39. Pedicels of inflorescence are short, less than 5 mm.
Distribution and Ecology - Outside the Guianas and Venezuela known only from Alanaos in the Hylaea.
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Discussion
Peridium schomburgkianum Benth., Jour. Bot. & Kew Misc. 6: 323. 1854.
Pera bicolor Lanjouw, Euphorb. Suriname 148. 1931 et var. autores.
Type. Roraima, Venezuela, Schomburgk 594 (in Kew also 901); duplicate of syntype in NY; photo of Schomburgk 905 in NY (also 580).
Although the name was originally given by Klotzsch, the first official publication can be considered to be the one by Bentham. But Bentham’s description is very scanty, and Muller-Argoviensis’ description is the first one which is of any real value. This gives the main characters: “foliis subtus minute sparseque lepidotis” and “ovario dense rufo-tomentello.” However the ripe capsules were unknown and remained undescribed till today