Parinari alvimii Prance

  • Authority

    Prance, Ghillean T. 1989. Chrysobalanaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 9S: 1-267. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Chrysobalanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Parinari alvimii Prance

  • Type

    Type. Brazil. Bahia: Una, Fazenda São Rafael, 29 Oct 1969 (fl), T. S. dos Santos 457 (holotype, CEPEC; isotypes, FHO, NY).

  • Description

    Description - Tree to 20 m tall, the young branches densely ferrugineous-tomentose, becoming glabrous and conspicuously lenticellate with age. Leaf lamina oblong to ovate, coriaceous, 5-12 × 4-10 cm, subcordate to cordate at base, rounded to very bluntly acute at apex glabrous above except on midrib, tomentose and with stomatal cavities obscured by dense pubescence beneath, frequently with two glands at junction with petiole, midrib prominent beneath, slightly impressed and tomentose above; primary veins 17-25 pairs, extremely prominent beneath, impressed above; petioles 3-8 mm long, tomentose, terete. Stipules 20-35 mm long, semiamplexicaul, persistent, membranous, exterior pilose-tomentose at center of base, gray-lanate over rest of surface, but with a few pilose appressed hairs, glabrous within. Inflorescences of terminal and subterminal dense-flowered panicles, 3-5 cm long, the rachis and branches light brown tomentose. Bracts to 1 cm long, persistent, ferrugineous, tomentose on exterior, enclosing flower buds in small groups. Receptacle subcampanulate-turbinate, brown-tomentose on exterior, tomentose within. Petals five, white, slightly shorter than calyx lobes. Stamens 5-7, unilateral, with short tooth-like staminodes opposite them. Ovary and lower two-thirds of style densely pilose. Fruit unknown. Habitat. Littoral forest.

  • Discussion

    Parinari alvimii differs from all species of Parinari, except P. rodolphii and P. campestris, in its large, amplexicaul stipules. It is quite different from these two species in the inflorescence, which is compact and smaller with densely crowded flowers, in the larger flowers, and the leaf shape, cordate at base and blunt at apex. Parinari alvimii differs from P. littoralis in the stipules, the larger leaves, the thicker, rufous petioles, the larger bracts and flowers, and the denser inflorescences. It differs from two eastern Brazilian species, P. excelsa and P. brasiliensis, in the stipules and bracts, the leaf shape, and the compact inflorescence.

  • Common Names

    oiti-mirim

  • Distribution

    (Fig. 87). Known only from coastal Bahia.

    Brazil South America| Bahia Brazil South America|