Maquira

• Authority

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

• Family

  Moraceae

• Scientific Name

  Maquira

• Type

  Type species. Maguira guianensis Aublet.

• Synonyms

  Olmediophaena, Olmedioperebea, Olmediophaena coriacea H.Karst., Olmedioperebea sclerophylla Ducke, Maquira sclerophylla (Ducke) C.C.Berg, Maquira coriacea (H.Karst.) C.C.Berg, Maquira guianensis Aubl.

• Description

  Description - Trees, mostly dioecious. Periderm of the twigs peeling off easily. Leaves subcoriaceous to coriaceous, glabrous or sparsely hairy, greenish when dry, more or less shining above; margin entire; pluricellular hairs oblongoid-capitate; stipules small, not fully amplexicaul, free, caducous. Staminate inflorescences discoid to globose, pedunculate; flowers free or basally connate, perianth 4-lobed to 4-parted, stamens (2-)4, filaments straight or slightly curved in the bud, connectives broad or narrow. Pistillate inflorescences mostly solitary, subsessile to pedunculate; many free flowers, a few connate flowers, or one flower, perianth (2-)4-lobed to (2-)4-fid; ovary almost entirely adnate to the perianth, stigmas semidisciform, linguiform, or filiform.

• Discussion

  History.

  The genus Maguira was established by Aublet (1775) who described M. guianensis from a specimen with juvenile staminate inflorescences. Although the plate referring to the species is fictitious with regard to the attachment of the inflorescences, the species has always been recognized as a member of the Olmedieae. It was placed either in Olmedia (Poeppig & Endlicher, 1838; Trecul, 1847) or m Helicostylis (Bentham, 1880; Engler, 1889), although with doubt. Bureau (1873) treated M. guianensis and Perebea laurifolia Trecul (1847) as conspecific and recognized a separate genus Maguira. Study of the type of M. guianensis confirmed Bureau’s concept. Baillon (1877) transferred Olmedia grandifolia Trecul (1847) ( = Perebea guianensis Aublet) to Maguira and gave a full description of the genus. Under the heading “Maquira a genus without status” Pittier (1912) discussed the confusion about the position of this genus. He concluded that it would be logical to drop the obsolete Maguira altogether, or to relegate it for ever among the genera rejicienda. Ducke (1935, 1939) suggested excluding the aberrant Perebea laurifolia from the genus. This suggestion is honoured in the present revision by the reinstatement of Maguira. Owing to the doubtful position of Maguira only a few species were assigned to it in the course of time.
  In 1862 Karsten described Pseudolmedia coriacea in the Florae Columbiae. Bentham (1880) regarded this species as more closely related to Olmedia than to Pseudolmedia. Bentham’s opinion induced Karsten (1887) to establish the genus Olmediophaena for Pseudolmedia coriacea. Apart from 0. coriacea, Ducke (1939) distinguished two Amazonian species.
  In 1922 Ducke described the genus Olmedioperebea with the single species 0. sclerophylla. Subconsequently he also transferred Olmedia callophytia Poeppig & Endlicher (1838) to this genus. Staminate inflorescences.
  The short shoots bear a variable but mostly rather small number of pedunculate inflorescences. The receptacles are plane, hemispherical, or globose to obovoid (in M. coriacea). The flowers are sometimes somewhat connate at the base. The perianth parts are borne more or less distinctly in two whorls. There are four, rarely three or two stamens, the filaments of which are slightly incurved in the bud in species with flowers with a low perianth. Pistillate inflorescences.
  These are mostly solitary; in species with one- or few-flowered inflorescences two or three of them may occur together. Complemental staminate inflorescences are sometimes found. The inflorescences are mostly pedunculate. In M. costaricana and M. guianensis they bear at least ten free flowers, in M. calophylla and M. sclerophylla only a few connate flowers or a single flower. In all pistillate specimens of M. coriacea seen by the author the inflorescences are one-flowered; however, according to Ducke (1939), inflorescences with some free flowers do occur. The ovaries are largely or entirely adnate to the perianth. In M. costaricana the upper part of the ovary is free, but in the infructescences the fruit is completely adnate to the fruiting perianth.
  Infructescences.
  In several-flowered inflorescences of M. calophylla and M. sclerophyla some ovaries may fail to develop; consequently the fruiting perianths often seem to bear lateral styles. The seeds are large, the terminal hilum is large, and the vascular bundles of the testa are often conspicious. Distribution.
  The genus occurs mainly in northern South America. M. costaricana extends from the Andes to Nicaragua. M. guianensis and M. sclerophylla inhabit the Lower Amazon Basin and extend to Suriname, whereas M. calophylla is almost confined to the Upper Amazon Basin. M. coriacea inhabits flood plain forests of the Amazon Basin, The Orinoco Basin, and the Upper Rio Paraguay Basin. The other species usually occur in non-inundated forests. The widely separated areas of the two species of section Maquira are remarkable. Taxonomic notes.
  The genus contains five species which are rather uniform in the appearance of their vegetative parts and can readily be distinguished from the other Olmedieae in their vegetative characters. Especially in the characters of the generative parts Maquira shows several similarities to Perebea.2 The staminate inflorescences of M. calophylla, M. costaricana, and M. guianensis look much like multiflorous ones of Perebea sect Perebea. In many characters of the flowers and infructescences Maquira shows the same variation as Perebea. Maquira is mainly separated from Perebea by differences in the vegetative structures. Ducke’s suggestion to separate Perebea laurifolia from P. guianensis and allied species was based mainly on differences in generative parts, but when all species are taken into consideration it proves to be impossible to base the separation on these differences. The differences in the position of the ovaries at anthesis become less distinct in fruit.
  On the basis of the differences in the pistillate inflorescences three groups of species can be distinguished within Maquira, to which the rank of section is assigned.