Calliandra caeciliae

  • Title

    Calliandra caeciliae

  • Authors

    Rupert C. Barneby

  • Scientific Name

    Calliandra caeciliae Harms

  • Description

    43. Calliandra caeciliae Harms, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 17: 89. 1921. —"Guatemala: Dep. Hue- huetenango, Uaxackanal [= Guaxacana] ... 1300-1400 m... (Caec[ilie] u. E. Seler no. 3006 — Aug. 1896)." — Holotypus. †B = F Neg. 7257!; clastotypus + photo, NY!. — Anneslia caeciliae Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 61. 1928.

    C. densifolia Rose ex Harms, Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 17: 89. 1921, nom. subnud., only inadvertently published in discussion of the preceding. — "Pringle no. 8671, 1902; Michoacan, Monte Leon Stat." — Lectoholotypus (McVaugh, 1987: 153), US!; isotypus, K!. —Anneslia densifolia Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 60. 1928. — Equated with C. caeciliae by Standley and Steyermark (1946: 20).

    Microphyllidious trees 2-6 m with plagiotropic long-shoots, habitally resembling C. magdalenae and C. cruegeri, the young stems, lf-axes, and peduncles thinly (densely) strigulose-pilosulous with gray hairs to 0.2-0.6 mm, the crowded narrow lfts olivaceous, scarcely paler beneath, (sub)glabrous facially, often thinly subappressed-ciliolate, the often very short peduncles arising singly from condensed, densely thatched, mostly efoliate brachyblasts axillary to coeval or lately fallen primary lvs; phyllotaxy distichous. Stipules lance- or ovate-acuminate, those subtending primary lvs 2.5-5.5 x 0.7-1.8 mm, striately 7-14- nerved when young, early dry deciduous, those of brachyblasts shorter, persistent. Lf-formula i/23-31, but often seemingly fewer when primary lvs have fallen, the lfts fewer in many brachyblast lvs; petioles 1-3.5 mm, at middle 0.4—1 mm diam; rachis of longer pinnae 3-7 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 0.8 2.5 mm, the lfts decrescent toward each end of rachis; lft-pulvinules 0.1-0.3 x 0.3-0.5 mm; lft-blades linear or linear-lanceolate from semicordate or obtusangulate base, triangular-acute, straight or almost so, those near mid-rachis 5-13 x 0.9-1.9(-2.2) mm, 5-8.2 times as long as wide; venation weakly palmate- pinnate, the midrib scarcely excentric, the inner posteRíor primary nerve produced at most to mid-blade, often shorter, the 1-2 outer ones much shorter, the secondary venules either finely prominulous or almost immersed ventrally. Peduncles 1—15(—17) mm, ebracteate; capitula 6—14-fld, the receptacle ±1-1.5 mm; bracts ovate or subulate 0.45-1 mm, persistent; perianth either 4- or 5-merous, either greenish-white or red-tinged, glabrous except for sometimes minutely ciliolate calyx-rim, the calyx sharply striate, the corolla not so, the androecium pallid proximally, its tassel carmine; fls of the capitulum variably homo- or heteromorphic, the androecial tube of the peripheral (either staminate or bisexual) fls ± as long as corolla or exserted to 2 mm, that of one or more central (exceptionally of all) fls cylindric or trumpet-shaped and up to ±15 mm, its orifice expanded to 4 mm diam; PERIPHERAL FLS: pedicels 0.1-0.5 x 0.4-0.6 mm; calyx campanulate or deeply campanulate 1.2-2.1 (-2.8) x 0.9-1.2 mm, the obtuse teeth 0.1-0.25 mm; corolla (3.4-)4-6(-7.7) mm, the ovate lobes 0.8-1.5 mm; androecium 9-15-merous, 22-29 mm, the tube 3-6.5(-8) mm. Pods erect on thickened peduncle, in profile 5-7 x 0.5-0.8 cm, the sutures in dorsal view ±2.5 mm wide, their planes of dehiscence ±0.6 mm, the leathery valves obliquely (sometimes reticulately) venulose, thinly pilosulous glabrescent; seeds (few seen) in broad view 5.5 x 4 mm, pleurogrammic.

    In semideciduous woodland and on riverbanks, in moderately dry sites in the uplands, in moist ravines in the lowlands, 150-1080 m, scattered in s. Mexico and Central America: Mexico (Jalisco to Chiapas); Guatemala (Huehuetenango), Honduras (El Paraíso Ocotepeque); Nicaragua (Estelí). — Map 26. — Fl. VI-XI. — Cinchote, guaricho (Guerrero).

    Calliandra caeciliae differs from other unijugate calliandras of tropical Mexico and Central America in high numbers and small size of the leaflets.