Swartzia langsdorffii Raddi

  • Authority

    Cowan, Richard S. 1967. Swartzia (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae Swartzieae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 1: 3-228. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Fabaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Swartzia langsdorffii Raddi

  • Type

    Type collection. G. Raddi s.n. (holotype Pl), near Mandiocca, Estado Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The locality data cited are not found on the collection but are taken from Raddi s original publication.

  • Synonyms

    Mimosa pulchra Vell., Swartzia brasiliensis Vogel, Tunatea langsdorjii (Raddi) Kuntze

  • Description

    Description - Tree to 17 m tall or taller, the trunk ca 30 cm diameter, the branchlets minutely strigulose but glabrescent; stipules caducous, 1.5-3 mm long, ca 0.4 mm wide, subulate to linear-lanceolate, glabrous; petioles (1.5-)2-4(-4.5) cm long, marginate to narrowly alate, the wing to 15-20 mm long and 3-5 mm wide at the apex, obtuse, strigulose but soon glabrescent on the upper or on both surfaces; rachis (5.5-)9-14(-16) cm long, alate, or infrequently only marginate, the wings oblanceolate, (2.5-)3-5(-7) mm wide at the apex, strigulose at first except on the upper surface of the wings, glabrescent; leaflets 3-5- (or 6-) jugate, the petiolules 2-4 mm long, minutely strigulose, more or less glabrescent, the blades coriaceous, nitid, glabrous or minutely strigulose on the costa on the undersurfaces, (3-)5-9 (-11.5) cm long, (2-)3-5(-7) cm wide, those of the lowermost pair slightly smaller, elliptic to broadly elliptic, the terminal leaflets or, infrequently, all the leaflets more or less obovate, the base cuneate-acute, rarely subobtuse or obtuse, the apex bluntly acute with the tip often somewhat retuse, the venation conspicuous, salient on both sides of the blades or the costa plane on the upper surface; inflorescences racemose or panicled-racemose, (4-)10-20(-25) cm long, ramuligerous to axillary, the axis more or less minutely strigulose, usually glabrescent, the bracts caducous or deciduous, 1.5-3 mm long, (0.5-) 1-1.5 mm wide, triangular to ovate, glabrous or on the outer surface minutely strigulose, the bracteoles persistent to deciduous, arising on the pedicel usually in the upper half, (0.7-) 1 -2(-3) mm long, 0.4-0.5 mm wide, sometimes triangular but usually subulate-lanceolate, glabrous or on the outer surface slightly strigulose; pedicels compressed, (9-)11-15(-25) mm long, glabrous to sparingly strigulose and glabrescent; buds globose to oval in outline, 9-10 mm diameter, glabrous; calyx segments 4, glabrous, persistent, at least in part, with the mature fruit, thick-coriaceous; petal white, persistent with very old flowers, glabrous, the claw (1 -)3-4(-5) mm long, the blade oblate, cordate basally, 20-35 mm long, 25-50 mm wide; larger stamens 2-4, caducous, glabrous, the filaments 10-12 mm long, the anthers oblong, 2.5-3 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, the smaller stamens glabrous, the filaments 7-12 mm long, the anthers slightly oblate, ca 0.6-1 mm long, 0.7-1.5 mm wide, the pollen of all the stamens mostly globose, ca 28.5 µ diameter, few grains elliptic, ca 28.5 n long and 26 n diameter; gynoecium glabrous, the stigma punctiform, the style 0.5-1.5 mm long, the ovary arcuate-elliptic, 6-10 mm long, 2-5 mm wide, the gynophore 4-5(-7) mm long; fruit 8-8.5 cm long, ca 4.5 cm wide, ovate to ovate-oblong in outline, laterally compressed, the sutures incrassate, the stipe ca 10 mm long.

  • Discussion

    The origin of the specific epithet is explained in the original publication; Raddi collected the type material on property belonging to a man named Langsdorff, a resident of the region just west of the city of Rio de Janeiro. That this is the correct name can hardly be questioned, since this is one of the most distinct species in the genus. Even the later synonym, S. pulchra Vellozo, is surely referable here, even though we have only crude drawings to typify the taxa included in his Flora Fluminensis. The collections of Sello, cited above, both have the binomial S. brasiliensis Vogel penned on the label in Vogel’s hand and certainly the collections are the same as the Raddi material.

    The unique characteristic separating this from all other species in the genus is the long-persistent petal, which does not fall from most flowers until long after the androecium has disappeared and the gynoecium is obviously several times enlarged beyond its size at anthesis.

  • Common Names

    Jacaranda banana, jacaranda da Sangre, patrona, pau de sangre

  • Distribution

    (Fig. 19). Primarily within the limits of urban Rio de Janeiro and immediate vicinity but extending north to Baía and Minas Gerais and south to São Paulo; apparently common in the primary forest along the coast.

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