Hydrochorea gonggrijpii

Pithecolobium sabanensis [sic] Schery, Fieldiana, Bot. 28: 258. 1952. — "[Venezuela, estado Bolívar:] ... in Gran Sabana south of Mount Roraima, alt. 1065 m, October 2, 1944, Julian A. Steyermark 59146" — Holotypus, F! = F Neg. 59146; isotypi, MO!, VEN 31276!.

Pithecollobium gonggrijpii sensu Sandwith, Kew Bull. 9: 8. 1939, who suggested that P. pullei was based on juvenile material of the same; Lindeman & Mennega, Bomenboek Surinam 191. 1963.

Pithecellobium sabanense sensu Cárdenas, 1974: 122 (in nota), who reported a gland on the anthers, not confirmed in this study.

Microphyllidious arborescent shrubs (trees fide Lindeman, pers. comm.) (l)2-20(-27) m tall, the young stems, all lf-axes and peduncles puberulent- tomentulose with forwardly incurved, sordid or rusty hairs 0.1-0.2 mm, the lvs conspicuously bicolored, the lfts glossy dark green (when dry brunnescent) and (except for sometimes ciliolate midrib) glabrous above, beneath pale olivaceous (drying tan), dull, either glabrous or minutely thinly strigulose, ciliolate or not, the umbelliform capitula of small, pinkish or reddish, white-stamened fls axillary to coevally expanding lvs, immersed in foliage. Stipules linear- lanceolate or -attenuate 2-7.5 x 0.3-0.7 mm, early deciduous. Lf-formula (ii)iii-vi(in juvenile lvs occasionally -viii)/(12-)14-35(-"40"); lf-stks of lvs on most terminal fl stems (2.5—)3—12 cm, of lvs on vigorous long-shoots and sapling branches up to 16-23 cm, the petiole (0.8-)l-2.4(-5) cm, the longer interpinnal segments (7)9-23(-28) mm; nectary between or close below first pinna-pair most often shortly stoutly (sometimes cryptically) stipitate, (0.8—)1.1— 2.1 mm diam, in profile 0.5-1.6 mm tall (often distorted by drying under pressure), the stipe as wide to less than half as wide as the head, this commonly convex pileiform, dimpled or not, but sometimes shallowly concave or cupular, a similar nectary at tip of lf-stk and often between 2 or more distal pinna-pairs, and much smaller trumpet-shaped ones on pinna-rachises between 2 to several further pairs of lfts; pinnae accrescent distally, the rachis of longer ones (3-)4.5-8.5(-10.5) cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 2-4(in sapling lvs -6.5) mm; minute paraphyllidia ascending from apex of pinna-pulvini; lft-pulvinules wrinkled, usually livid, 0.45-0.8(-1.3) x 0.4-0.7 mm; lfts except at far ends of rachis subequilong, in outline linear or narrowly oblong from inequilaterally rounded or on distal side cuneate base, broadly obtuse and sometimes minutely mucronulate at apex, those near and beyond midrachis (7.5-)8- 16(—17.5) x (1.5-)2-4(-4.5) mm, 3.6-5(-5.5) times as long as wide; venation pinnate, the subcentric, nearly straight midrib commonly giving rise to 6-9 perceptible but always very slender major and often about as many intercalary secondary nerves brochidodrome just short of the plane margin, the tertiary venulation faint, irregular, or externally invisible, the whole venation, on one or both faces, either finely prominulous or immersed and discolored, less commonly immersed except for dorsally prominulous midrib. Peduncles solitary or geminate 2-5.5(-8) cm; capitula subhemispherical (11 —) 17—40-fld, the clavate axis, including short terminal pedestal, 1.5-4 mm; bracts linear-oblanceolate ±1.5-2.5 mm, early caducous; fls dimorphic, the peripheral ones slenderly pedicellate, the terminal 1-3 either sessile or stoutly short-pedicellate, with modified androecium; perianth 5-merous (or terminal fls randomly -8-merous), commonly strigulose overall but sometimes only distally, rarely glabrous except for ciliate corolla-lobes; PERIPHERAL FLS: pedicel of lowest fls (3-)4—9 mm, at middle 0.2-0.3 mm diam; calyx (1.7-)2.6-4(-4.8) x (l.l-)l.3-2.9 mm, openly turbinate-campanulate to narrowly campanulate, the teeth (0.3-)0.6-1.3(-1.8) mm; corolla 5.3-8.5(-9) mm, the lobes (1.5-)2-3 x 1.2-2 mm; androecium 10-12(-14)-merous, (13-)22-42 mm, the stemonozone 0.5-1.8 mm, the tube (1.5—)1.8-4.4 mm; ovary narrowly oblong-oblanceolate in profile, dilated and truncate at apex, usually densely puberulent overall, sometimes glabrous below middle, rarely puberulent only around the top; TERMINAL FL(S): calyx campanulate, sometimes deeply so, (2.8-)3-6 x (1.6-)1.8-3.3 mm; corolla (7.5—)8—12(—13.5) mm; androecial tube (7-)9-16 mm, usually exserted at least shortly from corolla and somewhat dilated upward, at separation of filaments 1-2.4 mm diam. Pods 1-7 per capitulum, not seen fully ripe but apparently similar in structure and dehiscence to those of H. corymbosa, commonly 7.5-9 (in T. F. Amazonas, Venezuela to 11.5) mm wide, 8-13-seeded.

On river banks, at gallery margins, and in low-lying swamp forest, 40-1400 m, locally plentiful within and along NE periphery of the Guayana Highland in SE Colombia, S Venezuela, Guyana, Surinam, and E-centr. Amazonian Brazil: at 400 m upward on Gran Sabana in state of Bolívar, Venezuela, and adjacent Guyana and upland interior Surinam, N in Bolivar at lower elevations into T. F. Delta-Amacuro and NW Guyana; lowland N Guyana and Surinam; at 150 m at base of C. Duida in T. F. Amazonas, Venezuela; riverine forest of Igara-paraná in com. Amazonas, Colombia; in Brazil on Río Univini in Roraima, and near Maués in E Amazonas. — Map 1. — Fl. almost throughout the year, most abundantly X-IV. — Manariballi, swamp manariballi (Guyana); manaliballi (Suriname); water- or boschtamarinde (Suriname).

Hydrochorea gonggrijpii is closely related to H. corymbosa, differing most clearly in more numerous leaflets of narrower outline, but also in flowers on the average fewer per capitulum and a little larger, and in pods, as yet little known, at least on the average a little narrower. Like that of H. corymbosa, the perianth varies from densely strigulose overall to glabrous except for corolla-lobes minutely ciliolate at apex. We have found a narrow overlap between the two species in all measurements, even in leaflet number; but the overlaps are encountered at random and singly, and we have no really ambiguous specimens. The range of H. gonggrijpii lies within the northeastern quarter of that of H. corymbosa (compare Maps 1 and 2) and is there found in essentially the same riparian habitats.

Internal variation, other than in vesture of the perianth, is most marked in amplitude of the perianth, which varies from widely turbinate-campanulate, as in the type of Pithecellobium gonggrijpii, to narrowly and deeply campanulate, as in that of P. sabanense; the extremes are strikingly different, but intermediate forms are not uncommon, especially on the Gran Sabana. A contrast in leaf-formula between leaves of lush vegetative (or juvenile) branches and those of flowering branches of adult trees, which Kleinhoonte incautiously interpreted as indicating specific differentiation of the two precisely sympatric species P. gonggrijpii and P. pullei, is characteristic of the genus; in fact both types of foliage occur in some modern collections (e.g., Davidse 4893A, NY: lf-formulae iii/16 and vii/28!). This condition was foretold by Sandwith in 1939, when few collections had been made and no direct evidence of it was available. We have found further that the secondary and tertiary venulation of the leaflets varies in prominence (in the dry state), but this has no correlation with other characters or with dispersal. It may be due to edaphic influences, or to age of the plant, or to both. One of the two Brazilian specimens known to us (Pires 14240, NY) is notable for an extremely small peripheral flower, resembling that of H. corymbosa, combined with fully immersed venation of the leaflets. This may possibly represent a taxonomic variant. The other (Ducke in RB 23236, from Maués, Amazonas), is also small-flowered, but seems otherwise typical.