Micrandra

  • Authority

    Maguire, Bassett. 1967. The botany of the Guayana Highland--Part VII. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 17: 1-439.

  • Family

    Euphorbiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Micrandra

  • Description

    Genus Description - The thorough study of R. E. Schultes supported with extensive field observation has established beyond any doubt that Micrandra and Cunuria represent but a single genus, and also that Micrandra belongs in the Hevea-Joannesia relationship and has affinities neither to Jatropheae nor Gelonieae, under which it has been classified so far. Micrandra is characterized by the 5-10 stamens attached to the base of the calyx and not forming a synandrium. The pistil is lageniform, and the stigmata 3-lobed, the lobes short. Of the seven species reported here, three (M. gleasoniana, M. brownsbergensis and M. glabra) are confined to the Guianas with a slight encroachment into Bolivar, Venezuela, two (M. spruceana and M. sprucei) are confined to the Casiquiare area, and two (M. siphonoides and M. rossiana) are in the Casiquiare area and Bolivar. The distribution of Micrandra is well defined. The center of development is in the upper Rio Negro; from here it radiates through the Casiquiare area into the upper Orinoco, over the Hylaea, into the Guianas. Southward the most extreme occurrence is in central Brazil, Bahia, Minas Geraes, Sao Paulo, westward into Iquitos, Peru, and in Porto Berrio in the Magdalena valley, Colombia.

  • Discussion

    Pogonophyllum Didrichs, Vidensk. Meddel. 144. 1857.

    Cunuria Baillon, Adansonia 4: 287. 1864 (type, C. spruceana Baillon, Casiquiare region, Spruce 8299.)

    Type. Micrandra siphonoides Bentham.

    Conserved over Micrandra R. Brown in Bennett, Pl. Jav. Rar. 237. 1844. (=Hevea Aublet)