Perebea xanthochyma H.Karst.

Authority

Berg, Cornelius C. 1972. Olmedieae, Brosimeae (Moraceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 7: 1-229. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family

Moraceae

Scientific Name

Perebea xanthochyma H.Karst.

Type

Type. Karsten sn [female] (LE), near Villavicencio, Colombia.

Synonyms

Perebea integrifolia Karsten, Perebea markhamiana Benth. & Hemsl., Maquira granatensis Baill., Perebea glabrata Standl., Perebea chimiqua J.F.Macbr., Perebea hispidula Standl., Perebea molliflora Standl. & L.O.Williams

Description

Description - Dioecious or monoecious shrubs or trees up to 35 m tall; latex yellowish, turning brown or reddish. Leafy twigs 1-6(-8) mm thick, either with yellow to whitish, short appressed hairs, or with very short, patent hairs intermixed with distinctly longer, appressed to patent hairs, lenticels scattered. Leaves elliptic to oblong to lanceolate, usually broadest near the upper end, more or less inequilateral 7-48 cm long, 3-20 cm broad, chartaceous to subcoriaceous, acuminate, acute to obtuse to emarginate at the base, entire to repand to denticulate, glabrescent above, sparsely to rather densely subsericeous to substrigose, or hirsute on the veins, otherwise puberulous to subglabrous beneath; veins nearly plane above, prominent beneath, 13-26 pairs of secondary veins, most tertiary veins parallel; petioles 2-15(-30) mm long; stipules 5-15(-25) mm long, yellow to greyish sericeous to hirsute. Staminate inflorescences 3-6(-10) mm in diameter; peduncle 1-3(-6) mm long; involucre with ca 25-ca 60 deltoid to ovate to triangular, acute (to obtuse), subsericeous bracts in 4-8 series; flowers 10 or more; perianth 0.8-1.1 mm high, tepals free, more or less cucullate, obtuse, yellowish puberulous; filaments free, 0.6-1.1 mm long, broadened towards the base or not, anthers 0.3-0.5 mm long, 0.2-0.3 mm broad; rarely some hairs present in the centre of the flower. Pistillate inflorescences solitary or accompanied by staminate ones, 4-15 mm in diameter, subsessile to pedunculate; peduncle up to 3 mm long, usually bracteate; involucre with ca 20-90 deltoid to ovate to triangular, acute (to obtuse), subsericeous bracts in 4-10 series; flowers (5-) 10-ca 50; perianth mostly ca 2 mm high, rarely up to 3.5 mm high, entire to shallowly 4-lobed (or 4-dentate), yellow to whitish puberulous to strigose to hispid; ovary laterally partly adnate to the perianth; style 0.5-1.5(-2.0) mm long, usually hairy, stigmas linguiform, 0.7-1.5 mm long, 0.2-0.7 mm broad, acute to mucronate to obtuse. Infructescences 1-2 cm in diameter; fruiting perianth with sparse to dense very short or long yellowish hairs; fruit (8?-) 12-13 × (6?-)8.5-9.5 mm, partly adnate to the perianth; seed 7-8 × 4-5 mm. Flowering. Flowering from August to April.

Discussion

P. xanthochyma is rather uniform in its generative parts; only the indument of the fruiting perianths is markedly variable. The pistillate flowers of Cooper 634 have dentate perianths and ca 2 mm long styles, whereas all other pistillate specimens have entire to weakly lobed perianths and up to 1.5 mm long styles. In its vegetative parts, however, the species is very variable. The indument varies considerably, as well as the shape and the dimensions of the leaves. The specimens collected East of the Andes in Colombia and Peru are rather uniform vegetatively; the leaves are small to medium-sized and entire, the leaf veins and twigs bear short appressed hairs. complementary staminate inflorescences appear to be rather common. The specimens from the remaining part of the area are more variable. The indument of the leaves and the twigs may consist of very short patent hairs intermixed with distinctly longer, appressed to patent ones, as found in several collections from Panama and Costa Rica, or of (rather) short appressed hairs. Harling 4669 and 4686 and Little 6404, all from western Ecuador, and Cuatrecasas 16629 from Western Colombia have large leaves (33-48 by 10-20 cm). The remaining collections have mediumsized to rather large (up to 35 cm long) leaves. As to the indument and the characters of the leaves, some groups of more or less similar specimens may be distinguished within them. It is, however, impossible to divide it into infraspecific taxa, owing to the nature and the confusing patterns of variation and the shortage of adequate material.

Distribution

(Fig 14). From southern Costa Rica to Peru; in forests from sea-level to 850 m altitude.

Costa Rica South America| Panama Central America| Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Peru South America|