Couepia bracteosa Benth.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Chrysobalanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Couepia bracteosa Benth.

  • Type

    Type. Schomburgk 485, Guyana, fl (holotype, K; isotypes, BM, CGE, GH, L, OXF). Distribution. Primary and secondary forest on non-flooded ground in the Guianas and Amazonian Brazil.

  • Description

    Description - Tree to 20.0 m tall, usually smaller. Leaves ovate-elliptic, 8.0-22.0 cm long, 4.0-9.5 cm broad, subcordate at base, short-acuminate at apex, glabrous above, gray to brown-lanate beneath; primary veins 12-25 pairs, prominent beneath; petioles 8.0-18.0 mm long, sparsely pubescent, shallowly canaliculate. Stipules 1.5-3.5 mm long, subulate, deciduous. Inflorescences terminal panicles with short silver-gray pubescence. Bracts ovate, often exceeding the receptacle tube, enclosing small groups of buds, 7.0-12.0 mm long, persistent. Receptacle subsessile, cylindrical, 7.0-12.5 mm long, densely brown-pubescent on exterior, glabrous within except for deflexed hairs at throat. Calyx lobes acute. Petals 5, white, sparsely ciliate on margins. Stamens 25-40, connate at base of filaments, inserted in an arc of 270°, with a few short filamentous staminodes opposite them. Ovary densely villous. Style pubescent. Fruit globose, 8.0 cm long, 7.0 cm broad; epicarp verrucose or smooth; mesocarp thick and fleshy; endocarp thin and rather fragile, granular, glabrous within.

  • Discussion

    Widely cultivated in the Amazon valley for its edible fruit.

    Two varieties of this species have been described, based on variation in leaf size: var grandifolia R. Ben., Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris 29: 597. 1923. var minor Ducke, Arch. Jard. Bot. Rio de Janeiro 5: 117. 1930.

    Since there is much variation and a complete gradation in leaf size, it is not possible to maintain these varieties. At a later date Ducke himself (1939) stated that var minor was based on a single specimen with smaller dimensions, and should not be maintained as a separate taxon.

  • Common Names

    Aruadan, Marirana, Pajurá, Pajurá de mata

  • Distribution

    Primary and secondary forest on non-flooded ground in the Guianas and Amazonian Brazil.

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