Compsoneura excelsa A.C.Sm.
-
Authority
Smith, Albert C. & Wodehouse, R. P. 1938. The American species of Myristicaceae. Brittonia. 2: 393-527. f. 1-9.
-
Family
Myristicaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Description
Species Description - Ad sectionem Coniostele pertinens; a C. Trianae et C. Mutisii (subtus descriptis) inflorescentiis masculis longioribus, perianthio saepe 4-lobato, floribus in fasciculis paucifloris aggregatis vel solitariis, forma androecii facile distinguenda. Tree up to 23 m. high, glabrous throughout; branchlets slender, rugose, terete; petioles rugose, shallowly canaliculate, about 1 mm. in diameter, 7-10 mm. long; leaf blades chartaceous, elliptic-oblong, 12- 16 cm. long, 4.5-6.5 cm. broad, acute to attenuate at base, obtusely short acuminate or cuspidate at apex, the costa prominent on both surfaces, the secondary nerves 6-9 per side, ascending, raised above, prominent beneath, the tertiary nerves and veinlets prominulous on both surfaces; staminate inflorescences 4-9 cm. long, racemose or narrowly pa- niculate, the rachis straight, slender, bearing numerous alterniate short lateral branches, these 1-2 mm. long near base, suppressed near apex, subtended by coriaceous deciduous bracts about 1 mm. long, the peduncle less than 1 cm. long; flowers 2 or 3 at the apices of lateral branches, those toward apex of inflorescence usually solitary on the rachis, the pedicels slender, up to 3 mm. long; perianth thick carnose, pate puberulent within, 2.5-3 mm. long, 3-3.5 mm. in diameter, 3-4-lobed nearly to base, the lobes deltoid-oblong, subacute; androecium about 1.2 mm. long, the filament column carnose, contracted distally, about 0.4 mm. long, the connectives carnose, firmly connate, forming an obconical column 1.4 mm. in diameter at the slightly convex summit, the summit marked with distinct radiating lines, the anthers usually 5, 0.8-1.1 mm. long, the anther cells divergent distally and separately adnate to the connectives; pistillate and fruiting inflorescences not known. (Fig. 2. a-c. )
-
Discussion
Type, A. F. Skutch 2791, collected in August, 1936, in the vicinity of El General, Province of San Jose, Costa Rica, alt. 880 in., and deposited in the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden. Distribution: Known only from the type collection.
The discovery in Costa Rica of a species of the Section Coniostele extends the range of the section northward from Colombia. Although the present plant bears a superficial resemblance to the other Central American species, C. Sprucei, it is altogether different in the essential characters of the staminate flowers.
-
Distribution
COSTA RICA: San Jose: Skutch 2791 (M, NY, type, US).
Costa Rica South America|