Naucleopsis glabra Spruce ex Pittier

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Moraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Naucleopsis glabra Spruce ex Pittier

  • Type

    Type. Spruce 2793 [female] (P), Panuré, Rio Uaupés, Amazonas, Brazil.

  • Synonyms

    Ogcodeia glabra Mildbr., Duguetia glabra Britton, Ogcodeia sandwithiana Mildbr., Ogcodeia tessmannii Mildbr., Ogcodeia tamamuri J.F.Macbr., Ogcodeia acreana Mildbr., Ogcodeia pallescens Ducke

  • Description

    Description - Trees up to 20 m tall. Leafy twigs 1-4.5 mm thick, yellowish to brown, rarely blackish, glabrous or yellow to whitish puberulous to pubescent; terminal buds more or less pungent. Leaves lanceolate to oblong, often broadest near the upper end, 7-31 cm long, 1.5-10 cm broad, subcoriaceous to coriaceous, attenuate to acute, obtuse, or truncate at the base, glabrous or the base of the costa sparsely pubescent; margin rarely revolute; the costa and the proximal parts of the secondary veins prominent, otherwise the venation nearly plane to slightly impressed above, veins more or less prominent to nearly plane beneath, 12-23 pairs of secondary veins, mostly curved, arched 1-2(-3) mm from the margin; petioles 5-20 mm long, 2-4 mm broad, broadly canaliculate at least at the upper end; stipules 8-2o(-28) mm long, glabrous or appressed-puberulous to pubescent, rarely subpersistent. Staminate inflorescences 5-12 mm in diameter; peduncle 1.5-7 mm long, glabrous or puberulous, bracteate or not; involucre with 9-25 reniform to deltoid to suborbiculate to ovate to oblong to subovate, obtuse to acute, minutely puberulous or (the outer bracts) also pubescent bracts in 4-6 series; perianth 1.0-2.7 mm high, with 3-7 free tepals; stamens 2-4, filaments 1-1.7 mm long, anthers 0.5-1.2 mm long, o.3-0.6 mm broad. Pistillate inflorescences 7-10 mm in diameter, sessile or subsessile; involucre with ca 15-25, reniform to deltoid to ovate to lanceolate, obtuse to acute, minutely puberulous or (the outer bracts) also pubescent bracts in 4-8 series; flowers (5-) 10- ca 30; tepals 4-7, free or sometimes basally connate, 1-4 mm long, obtuse, puberulous, similar to the pseudobracts; style either 0.0-0.5 mm or 2-4 mm long, stigmas 7-13 mm long, vittiform to filiform; pseudobracts mainly peripheral or also numerous among the flowers, 1-4 mm long, subulate to spine-like. Infructescences hemispherical to subglobose, 1.5-4.5 cm in diameter; tepals up to 4 mm long and incurved or in other specimens up to 8 mm long and straight; pseudobracts up to 4 mm long and broadened at the base or in other specimens up to 8 mm long and narrowed at the base, about spine-like to pyramidate. Flowering from May to January.

  • Discussion

    N. glabra is variable with regard to the indument, which on the twigs, stipules, leaves, and involucre may be almost absent to well-developed. The shape and dimensions of the leaves are also variable. In a group of rather hairy specimens (containing the types of Duguetia glabra and Ogcodeia acreana), mainly from northern Bolivia and the Acre Territory, the pseudobracts are largely peripheral and in fruit short and broadened at the base. The tepals are also short and incurved; the number of flowers is relatively small, the stigmas are relatively short, and the style is absent or very short.

    N. glabra is not readily distinguishable from N. imitans and N. pseudonaga. Although the differences are small and mainly quantitative, it does not seem justified to unite them all with N. glabra. In N. imitans most parts are of larger dimensions than in N. glabra. The involucral bracts are distinctly whitish pubescent, but sparsely hairy in most specimens of N. glabra. However, in the rather hairy forms of N. glabra with short tepals and pseudobracts in fruit the involucral bracts are also whitish (to yellowish) pubescent. N. glabra differs from N. pseudo-naga, only known by one collection, in the number of flowers in the pistillate inflorescences, the somewhat differently shaped pseudobracts and tepals, the length of the stipules, and the terminal bud.

    The collections Klug 257 and Ducke sn (HJBR 23992), cited under the unnamed collections, resemble N. glabra in their pistillate inflorescences.

  • Distribution

    (Fig 42). Extending from the Upper Amazon Basin (Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru) to northern Colombia and to French Guiana, probably through the western part of the Guiana Shield region; in non-inundated forests.

    Colombia South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Peru South America| Brazil South America| Bolivia South America|