Dichapetalum pedunculatum (DC.) Baill.

  • Authority

    Prance, Ghillean T. 1972. Dichapetalaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 10: 1-84. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Dichapetalaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Dichapetalum pedunculatum (DC.) Baill.

  • Type

    TYPE. Patris s n, French Guiana, fl (holotype, G-DC).

  • Synonyms

    Chailletia pedunculata DC., Symphyllanthus glaber Vahl, Dichapetalum glabrum Elmer

  • Description

    Description - Liana, the young branches tomentellous to glabrous. Leaves ovate-elliptic to oblong, coriaceous, 5.0-16.0 cm long, 2.0-7.5 cm broad, acuminate at apex, subcordate to subcuneate and slightly unequal at base, plane not bullate above, glabrous or with a few stiff hairs on venation only beneath; midrib more or less plane above, pubescent to glabrous; primary veins 7-9 pairs, more or less plane above, the venation plane above; petioles 4.0-12.0 mm long, shortly tomentellous at least when young. Stipules persistent, linear, to 10.0 mm long, puberulous to tomentellous, the margins entire. Flowers hermaphrodite; pedicels 0.2-1.5 mm long. Inflorescences spreading panicles, usually petiolar, sometimes terminal, the rachis and branches tomentellous to glabrescent; peduncles 1.0-3.5 cm long. Bracts and bracteoles 0.5-2.0 mm long, lanceolate, persistent, tomentose. Calyx 1.5-2.0 mm long, tomentose on exterior, the lobes almost equal. Corolla of 5 equal lobes, deeply bifid, glabrous, free to base. Fertile stamens 5, alternating and equalling or shorter than the corolla lobes. Disc of 5 large glands with lobed apices. Ovary bilocular or trilocular with two ovules in each loculus, lanate on exterior. Styles lanate at base, glabrous above, divided into 2 or 3 or united with a trifid apex. Fruit ellipsoid, most frequently unilocular, but often bilocular; epicarp short-tomentellous; mesocarp thin; endocarp thin, hard, bony, glabrous within.

  • Discussion

    I originally referred Steyermark 62213 to D. steyermarkii, but this collection is in fact D. pedunculatum and is cited here.

    In making the new combination D. glabrum (Vahl) Prance, I inadvertently overlooked the name D. glabrum Elmer; hence my new name is illegitimate and this species must be referred to as D. pedunculatum by which it has generally been known.

    De Candolle, in his original description of Chailletia pedunculata, did not give any details about this type specimen except to say that it was from Cayenne. Baillon in ‘Flora Brasiliensis’ cited one of the Paris sheets as the type: Herb Olyssip s n, from Para, Brazil. This sheet came from the herbarium Lusitania in Lisbon, and was presumably collected by A.R. Ferreira in Brazil between 1783 and 1792. It could have been at Paris prior to De Candolle’s description of C. pedunculata, and was possibly seen by him. However, it disagrees with de Candolle’s description in two features, firstly in the locality, Brazil not Cayenne, and secondly in the mature flowers. De Candolle was unable to describe mature flowers of C. pedunculata, yet the Herb. Olyssip. material has many open flowers. Baillon was certainly incorrect in his designation of the type collection of D. pedunculatum. De Candolle in the ‘Prodromus’ gave a synoptic description of D. pedunculatum which included the citation of a single collection by Patris. Thus the type is certainly the Patris collection. The De Candolle herbarium at Geneva has three sheets of D. pedunculatum all without field notes or collectors’ names. One of these sheets is, however, marked Cayenne. This is almost certainly the type collection, and at least one of the three sheets in the De Candolle herbarium, possibly all three, is the Patris collection.

    Flowering around the year.

  • Common Names

    Kahakudiballi rope, Massari

  • Distribution

    Primary and secondary forest, and river margins from Trinidad and northern Venezuela through the Guianas to the western part of Brazilian Amazonia.

    Trinidad and Tobago South America| Venezuela South America| Distrito Federal Venezuela South America| Monagas Venezuela South America| Delta Amacuro Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Roraima Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America|