Myrciaria dubia (Humb., Bonpl. & Kunth) McVaugh
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Authority
Maguire, Bassett. 1969. The botany of the Guayana Highland-part VIII. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 18: 1-290.
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Family
Myrtaceae
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Scientific Name
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Discussion
Psidium dubium H.B.K., Nov. Gen. & Sp. 6: 152. 1823.
Eugenia divaricata Benth., Jour. Bot. Hook. 2: 319. 1840.
Myrciaria phillyraeoides Berg, Linnaea 27: 326. 1856.
Myrciaria divaricata (Benth.) Berg, Linnaea 27: 334. 1856.
Myrciaria paraensis Berg, Mart. F\. Bras. 14(l): 364. 1857.
?Myrciaria riedeliana Berg, Mart. Fl. Bras. 14(l): 598. 18
For description see Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 13(4) [Fl. Peru]: 780. 1958. The type of Psidium dubium (Humboldt & Bonpland 876, represented by Field ]\Ius. neg. 36872), which I studied in Paris in 1965, is a narrow-leaved specimen of the species, of a sort frequent in the Orinoco drainage. The name Myrciaria phillyraeoides (B, hb. Willd. 95741) is based on another specimen of the same gathering, labelled "No. 876" and "Humboldt." The type of M . paraensis. Spruce 319 ["Eugenia 3"], which I saw at Munich in 1954, came from near Santarem, Para.
The type of Eugenia divaricata, according to the account in the protologue, was Schomburgk 958, "on the Rio Negro." As suggested in Fieldiana Bot. 2 9: 502. 1963, this particular gathering seems to have been a mixture of Myrciaria dubia and M. floribunda. Bentham's description seems to apply to il/. dubia only, and the example of no. 958 in his herbarium, which I saw at Kew in 1966, is deflnitely referable to M . dubia. The second element of Schomburgk 958, as it exists in some herbaria, was made by Berg the type of M . verticillata, which is a .synonym of M . floribunda Myrciaria riedeliana was based on a collection by Riedel, made near Santarem, Para, and seen by Berg in the herbarium of St. Petersburg. I have not seen the type, but the leaves are described as "utrinque creberrime grosseque elevato-, pellucidopunctatis," and I suppose this can apply only to M . dubia.
The range of Myrciaria dubia apparently extends from about central Para through the middle and upper Amazon to eastern Peru, and through the Rio Casiquiare and much of the upper and middle Orinoco basin; wherever found it seems to be a tree of river banks and islands. It seems to be unknown from the Guianas, and from extreme eastern Brazil and Venezuela. The following are records additional to those published in 1963:
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Distribution
Colombia South America| Brazil South America| Venezuela South America|