Lecythis poiteaui O.Berg

  • Authority

    Prance, Ghillean T. & Mori, S. A. 1979. Lecythidaceae - Part I. The actinomorphic-flowered New World Lecythidaceae (Asteranthos, Gustavia, Grias, Allantoma & Cariniana). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21: 1-270. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Lecythidaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Lecythis poiteaui O.Berg

  • Type

    Type. French Guiana. Cayenne, no date (fl), J. Martin s.n. (lectotype, P, photo NY, here designated; isolectotypes, K, P, photo P at NY).

  • Synonyms

    Jugastrum poiteaui (O.Berg) Miers, Eschweilera poiteaui (O.Berg) Nied., Lecythis racemiflora Sagot, Chytroma foetida R.Knuth

  • Description

    Description - Trees to 35 m tall, unbuttressed. Twigs slender, 1.5-2.5 mm diam. below uppermost leaf, glabrous, often but not always drying black, inconspicuously angled. Bark with shallow vertical fissures, the inner bark bright yellow. Leaves deciduous, flushed just before flowers appear; leaf blades narrowly elliptic to elliptic or infrequently oblong, 13-26 x 5-10 cm, glabrous, with glaucous abaxial surface, usually with rugose papillae as seen with SEM, chartaceous during flowering period, more coriaceous with maturity, with 19-26 pairs of lateral veins; apex acuminate; base obtuse, narrowly decurrent onto petiole; margins crenulate, with scars left by caducous hairs; petiole 8-13 mm long, glabrous, canaliculate. Inflorescences racemose, terminal or in axils of uppermost leaves, the rachis 12-20 cm long, with 2-7 widely spaced flowers, the lower ½ without flowers, glabrous, with conspicuous horizontally elongated lenticels; pedicels jointed, sessile below joint, 4-6 mm long above joint, the bract and bracteoles caducous, not seen. Flowers large, ca. 11 cm diam.; calyx with six very widely ovate to ovate green lobes, 10-14 x 6-11 mm, the margins erose; petals six, very widely ovate, the margins coiled under at anthesis, white, greenish white, or green, 40 x 35 mm; hood of androecium flat, white, the proximal appendages white with dark yellow anthers, the distal appendages antherless, white; staminal ring with ca. 1000 densely packed stamens, the filaments 3.5-4 mm long, white, not dilated at apex, the anthers ca. 1 mm long, yellow; hypanthium glabrous, cuneate at base, sometimes sulcate; ovary (3-) 4(-5)-locular, each locule with 14-28 ovules. Fruits globose to depressed globose, the calycine ring inserted near or below middle, the Calyx-lobes woody, persistent, pointing downwards, the supracalycine zone erect to flared outwards, the infracalycine zone rounded or tapered into woody pedicel, 3.5-8 x 5-10.5 cm. Seeds with funicle and aril attached basally, barely covering base of seed.

  • Discussion

    Lecythis poiteaui is easily recognized in the field by its combination of cylindrical trunk, shallowly fissured bark, and bright yellow slash. The common names for this species often allude to this slash character.

    This species is deciduous. The new leaves are flushed slightly before the tree flowers, and, therefore, the leaves of flowering collections are chartaceous whereas those of fruiting collections are more coriaceous.

    Lecythis poiteaui is bat-pollinated and possesses many characteristics of that syndrome (Mori et al., 1978). Marc van Roosmalen (pers. comm.) informs me that the fleshy aril is so eagerly sought by monkeys that intact, mature fruits are difficult to find. This observation suggests that monkeys play a role in seed dispersal.

  • Common Names

    jarana, jarana amarela, matamata roseo, mahot, mahot jaune, meli, gele bast tétéhoedoe

  • Distribution

    Lecythis poiteaui is a canopy tree of non-flooded forest distributed in Surinam, French Guiana, and Brazilian Amazonia from the vicinity of Manaus eastward to near the mouth of the Amazon. It flowers from Oct to Mar and releases seed from Apr to Jun.

    Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America|