Compsoneura debilis (A.DC.) Warb.

  • Authority

    Smith, Albert C. & Wodehouse, R. P. 1938. The American species of Myristicaceae. Brittonia. 2: 393-527. f. 1-9.

  • Family

    Myristicaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Compsoneura debilis (Spruce ex A.DC.) Warb.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub or small tree; branchlets rugose, cinereous; petioles rugose, shallowly canaliculate, 1.5-3 mm. in diameter, 12-16 mm. long; leaf blades coriaceous, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 10-16 cm. long, 3.5-8 cm. broad, attenuate at base and narrowly decurrent on the petiole, rounded or obtuse at apex, the secondary nerves 6-9 per side, arcuate-ascending, raised on both surfaces, the veinlets conspicuously and irregularly anastomosing, prominulous on both surfaces; staminate inflorescences glabrous throughout, compact, less than 1.5 cm. long, the rachis sometimes woody, the branches few; flowers white, in compact fascicles of 5-20 at the ends of minute branchlets, the pedicels slender, up to 2.5 mm. long; perianth carnose, about 2 mm. long, 3-lobed about one-half its total length, the lobes deltoid-oblong, obtuse; androecium about 1 mm. long, the filament column carnose, very short, the anthers 4 or 5, free, 0.6-0.8 mm. long, obtuse at apex, slightly recurved; pistillate perianth thick carnose, pure white (ex Ducke), the ovary subglobose, glabrous, the stigma peltate, subsessile; fruiting infloreseences compact, the mature fruits 2-4 per infloreseence, pedicellate (pedicels stout, 5-7 mm. long, swollen distally), 17-22 mm. long, 9-12 mm. broad, orange red at maturity (ex Ducke), minutely stipitate at base, obtuse at apex, the pericarp brittle, about 0.4 mm. thick, the aril thick, waxy, purplish (ex Ducke). (Fig. 2. g-k.)

  • Discussion

    Myristica debilis A. DC. in DC. Prodr. 14: 697. 1857

    Type locality: Panure, Rio Uaupes, Amazonas, Brazil.

    According to Ducke, this species occurs in "catiniga" near Camanaos. Its leaf shape and compact inflorescences immediately distinguish the plant.

  • Distribution

    Basin of Rio Negro, Brazil. BRAZIL: Amazonas: Rio Negro, Spruce (P); Ducke 24445 (B, K, US, Utr). Rio Uaupes, Spruce 2468 (type coll., B, G, K, NY, P, W), 2645 (K, P).

    Brazil South America|