Licania gracilipes Taub.

  • Authority

    Prance, Ghillean T. 1972. Chrysobalanaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 9: 1-410. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Chrysobalanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Licania gracilipes Taub.

  • Type

    Type. Glaziou 13800, Brazil, without locality, fl (holotype, B, lost; isotypes, K, P).

  • Synonyms

    Licania duckei Maguire

  • Description

    Description - Tree to 20.0 m tall or shrub, the young branches glabrous, obscurely lenticellate. Leaves lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, coriaceous, 3.5-8.0 cm long, 1.3-3.5 cm broad, the apex with a finely pointed acumen 10.0-15.0 mm long, cuneate or subcuneate at base, glabrous on upper surface, the lower surface with short dense white persistent lanate pubescence; venation shallowly reticulate; midrib glabrous, more or less plane above; primary veins 8-15 pairs, prominulous beneath, plane above; petioles 3.0-6.0 mm long, glabrous, eglandular, shallowly canaliculate. Stipules ca 1.5 mm long, linear, coriaceous, persistent, adnate to extreme base of petiole. Inflorescences terminal and axillary branched panicles, the rachis and branches glabrous. Flowers ca 1.5 mm long, in cymules on long slender peduncles attached to primary inflorescence branches. Bracts and bracteoles minute, persistent, glabrous. Receptacle campanulate, glabrous on exterior, tomentellous within; pedicels 0.5-3.0 mm long. Calyx lobes acute, puberulous on both surfaces. Petals absent. Stamens 3, unilateral; filaments shorter than calyx lobes, glabrous, free to base. Ovary inserted at base of receptacle, tomentose. Style rising to base of filaments, pubescent. Fruit to 1.8 mm long, pyriform; epicarp pulverulent, drying reddish; mesocarp thin; endocarp hard, thin, sparsely hirsutulous within.

  • Discussion

    The Index Kewensis mistakenly cited this species originally as L. gracilis. This error was corrected in the addenda to the same volume. However, the original mistake has still led to the species being referred to as L. gracilis from time to time, and hence caused confusion with L. gracilis Kleinh., which is not closely related.

    Licania gracilipes is distinct from related species by the white lanate-arachnoid pubescence of the leaf underside. Although the type of this Amazonian species is a Glaziou number, the specimens were presumably collected by another. As is so often the case in Amazonian species, allegedly collected by Glaziou, and thus purporting to be from southern Brazil, the type is more probably a duplicate of a Schwacke number (ie Schwacke III-292, cited above). The association of L. gracilis with southern Brazil led Maguire to overlook this name when he described L. duckei, which is a synonym of L. gracilis.

  • Distribution

    Non-flooded forest in Amazonian Brazil.

    Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America|