Abarema microcalyx var. microcalyx

Title

Abarema microcalyx var. microcalyx

Authors

Rupert C. Barneby

Scientific Name

Abarema microcalyx (Spruce ex Benth.) Barneby & J.W.Grimes var. microcalyx

Description

11a. Abarema microcalyx (Bentham) Barneby & Grimes var. microcalyx. Pithecolobium microcalyx Spruce ex Bentham, 11. cc. supra. 1875 & 1876. — "Habitat prov. do Alto Amazonas ad Rio Negro prope S. Gabriel: Spruce n. 2288; in silvis Capoeiras ad Rio Uaupés [prope Panuré], Spruce n. 2743." — Lectotypus, Spruce 2288, K(herb. bentham.) = NY Neg. 2006; paratypi, 2743 at †B = F Neg. 1211, F (fragm.)!, K(herb. bentham.)!, P!.

Characters as given in key to varieties; longest pedicels ±0.6-1.2 mm; pods 11-16 mm wide, the relatively thin valves coarsely venulose externally, the pitchlike mesocarp in cross section (dry) 0.2-0.5 mm thick.

In moist forest on terra firme, commonly on sandy, sometimes clayey soils, below 160 m, apparently not rare on and near the Orinoco-Negro divide in T. F. Amazonas, Venezuela, thence extending S along the Río Negro into NW state of Amazonas, Brazil (S. Gabriel da Cachoeira; lower Uaupés valley) and W just into SE Com. Vaupés, Colombia. — Map 13. — Fl. X—III. — Maripa, palo de jabón (Venezuela), the bark furnishes a detergent used in washing.