Virola guatemalensis (Hemsl.) 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

    Virola guatemalensis (Hemsl.) Warb.

  • Description

    Species Description - Tree up to 20 m. high or more; branchlets striate, when young ferruginous- tomentellous or cinerous-puberulent, soon glabrous and nigrescent; petioles deeply canaliculate, puberulelnt or glabrous, often narrowly winged distally, 1-3 nmm. in diameter, 5-14 mm. long; leaf blades coriaceous or thin coriaceons, oblong or elliptic- or obovate-oblong, 13-25 cm. long, 4-8 cm. broad, attenuate to broadly obtuse at base, acuminate or obtusely cuspidate at apex, glabrous on both surfaces (when young sparsely puberulent beneath with pale sessile-stellate 4-6-branched hairs about 0.2 mm. in diameter), the costa usually shallowly grooved above, prominent beneath, the secondary nerves 14- 21 per side, shallowly impressed above, raised beneath, anastomosing near margins, the veinlets usually obscure or plane; staminate inflorescences 2- or 3-times branched, broadly paniculate, many-flowered, 5-12 cm. long and nearly as broad, the peduncle slightly flattened, 1-3 cm. long, with the branchlets minutely ferruginous-puberulent, glabrescent, the ultimate peduncles distally swollen; bracts inconspicuous ovate, 2-3 mm. long, puberulent, soon deciduous; flowers arranged in ultimate clusters of 5-10, the pedicels slender, up to 1 mm. long; perianth submembranous, about 2 mm. long, sparsely puberulent with sessile-stellate hairs, 3-lobed niearly to base, the lobes oblong, subacute,

  • Discussion

    Myristica guatemawensis Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Am. Bot. 3: 66. 1882.

    Virola laevigata Standl. Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 4: 209. 1929

    Type locality: Guatemala

    Native names: Cacao volador (ex Salas), Quieche (ex Cook & Griggs), Sangre (ex Standley), Fruta dorada (ex Pittier), Bogamani (ex Cooper & Slater).

    The type of V. guatemalensis is very incomplete, consisting only of foliage and seeds, but, among Central American species, the leaves are very distinct, and there seems no doubt that the above cited material is conspecific.

  • Distribution

    Guatemnala to western Panama.

    Guatemala Central America| Belize Central America| El Salvador Central America| Honduras Central America| Nicaragua Central America| Costa Rica South America| Panama Central America|