Couepia bernardii Prance

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Chrysobalanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Couepia bernardii Prance

  • Type

    Type. Peru. Loreto: Prov. Requena, Rio Ucayali, Arboretum Jenaro Herrera, 4°55'S, 73°45'W, Tree Number 6-6, Jul-Sep 1974 (fl), Bernardi 6-6 (holotype, NY; isotype, G).

  • Description

    Description - Tree, the young branches puberulous, soon becoming glabrous. Leaf lamina elliptic, chartaceous, 9-16 × 3.5-6.5 cm, rounded to subcuneate at base, apiculate at apex, the acumen 2-8 mm long, glabrous above, with a short appressed-lanate caducous pubescence beneath, midrib prominent on both surfaces, primary veins 12-14 pairs, plane above, prominent beneath, secondary venation prominulous, more or less parallel and 90° to primary veins; petioles 4-7 mm long, tomentellous, becoming glabrous with age, rugulose, canaliculate above, eglandular. Stipules linear-lanceolate, tomentellous, to 6 mm long, caducous. Inflorescences of terminal and axillary little-branched panicles with central rachis and short 2-3 flowered branches, or of racemes, the rachis and branches puberulous. Receptacle cylindrical, 7-8 mm long, sparsely gray-puberulous externally, glabrous within except for deflexed hairs at throat; pedicels ca. 1 mm long. Calyx lobes five, rounded, 2.5 mm long, puberulous externally. Petals five, white, the margins ciliate. Stamens 20-23, unilateral, the arc of the circle opposite to them toothed. Ovary tomentose. Style pubescent on lower portion only. Fruit ovoid, ca. 5 cm long, 4 cm broad; exocarp hard and smooth or crustaceous when dry, glabrous; mesocarp woody, 6-10 mm thick when dry; endocarp thin and bony, glabrous within.

  • Discussion

    The closely related species Couepia bernardii, C. obovata, C. reflexa, and C. sandwithii form a superspecies (see Prance, 1972, for other similar groups in Couepia). The greater amount of material available now enables me to group these species together more clearly than was possible in 1972. They are characterized by the almost racemose inflorescence with small groups of flowers on short branches, thus technically panicles, the long tubular receptacle that is curved in bud at the apex, and the reticulate leaf undersurface with parallel secondary venation in all species except C. reflexa. I am maintaining all four species at present since they do appear to be distinct. Since C. reflexa is only known by a single type collection it is still hard to evaluate. The other species appear to be separate. They have distinct geographical distributions, although C. obovata and C. bernardii are sympatric in Amazonian Peru. C. obovata is much more widespread, in Central Amazonia and the South of the Guianas, however. C. sandwithii is allopatric, found in the Orinoco Delta region and Guyana. These species can be differentiated by the characters given in Table II and in the key which follows. In the original description of C. bernardii (Prance, 1981) I referred two collections from Venezuela to that species. These two collections (Steyermark 87610, 88108) actually belong to C. sandwithii.

    The species Couepia monteclarensis is also closely related to this group of species, but is more distinct. For differences see under that species.

  • Common Names

    Uchirana, parinari bianco

  • Distribution

    (Fig. 97). Western Amazonia.

    Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America|