Vismia macrophylla Kunth
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Authority
Ewan, Joseph A. 1962. Synopsis of the South American species of Vismia (Guttiferae). Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 35: 293-377. pls. 1-5.
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Family
Clusiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type: Banks of Río Cassiquiare, Amazonas, Venezuela, Humboldt & Bonpland (P; isotype B, numbered 1151, Photo EM 9497); cf. Sandwith, Kew Bull. 1931: 174.
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Description
Description - [No description provided.]
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Discussion
Vismia macrophylla was widely misunderstood up to Sandwith's commentary on the species (Kew Bull. 1931: 174), in which he pointed out that Hochreutiner had misinterpreted the species and introduced a var. glabrescens "which agrees well with the type [of V. macrophylla)." The two sheets of the Spruce collection that served as the basis of var. glabrescens show the distinct black punctate glands of the lower leaf surface and the thinly tomentulose rachis of the panicle of Vismia macrophylla. "Oralli" is the forester's name for Vismia macrophylla in British Guiana and one collection (Mazaruni Station, Fanshawe F627, US) is annotated "low branchy tree peculiar to swampy savannahs on white sand where it is co-dominant with Tabebuia longipes" A West Indian collection of this species labeled in Walker Arnott's hand merely "St. Vincents (Dr. Hooker)" in the Glasgow Herbarium is almost certainly a cultivated specimen grown at the botanic garden on the island and communicated by Rev. Lansdowne Guilding to W. J. Hooker with whom he was in active correspondence. The Triana collection "8," February 1856, from Llano San Martin, Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia, 400 m. (BM) cited by Triana and Planchon* as Vismia macrophylla, represents the extreme form of this species. Triana's No. "7" from the same locality is very puzzling, combining as it does the flower characters of V. macrophylla with the leaf shape and vestiture of V. baccifera subsp. dealbata. On the other hand Fendler 8, from Chagres, at the mouth of the Chagres River, now in the Panama Canal Zone, represents a less frequent intermediate phase between this species and true Vismia latifolia. This Fendler collection is the basis of Spraguo's doubt as to the correctness of Triana and Planchon's interpretation of V. macrophylla. But, judging from a photograph, Fendler 8 closely approaches the isotype collection (formerly at Berlin, but destroyed in World War II) in leaf shape, panicle characters, and the rather strong nervation. In many characters these collections stand between Vismia angusta and V. macrophylla and were it not for their fascicled stamens might be taken for a variant of V. tomentosa. Two Brazilian collections, Ducke 1068 (NY, US), and Corner 63 (NY), from the vicinity of Manaus, Amazonas, are unique in the abundance and character of the pepperlike black dot glands on the lower leaf-surfaces, which in these collections are so prominent as to show clearly through to the upper surface. The leaves furthermore are of an unusually thin texture for this species. *Ana. Sci. Nat. IV. Bot. 17: 306. 1862.