Calliandra luetzelburgii

  • Title

    Calliandra luetzelburgii

  • Authors

    Rupert C. Barneby

  • Scientific Name

    Calliandra luetzelburgii Harms

  • Description

    116.  Calliandra luetzelburgii Harms, Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni Veg. 17: 89. 1921. — "Brasilien: Bahia (Ph. v. Lützelburg in Herb. München, n. 55. 1914.)" — Holotypus, M, not found at M in 1992, at K in 1994!; presumed isotypus, †B = F Neg. 12481.

    C. virgata sensu Bentham, 1876, minori ex parte, quoad plantam bahianam Martiusianam.

    C. luetzelburgii sensu Renvoize, 1981: fig. 3(30); Lewis, 1987: 175; Stannard, 1995: 380, fig. 23A-D.

    Diffuse or bushy shrubs 4—15 dm with fuscous defoliate annotinous stems and densely foliate new growth, except for minutely ciliolate calyx glabrous throughout, the lvs bicolored, lustrous dark brown-olivaceous above, dull and paler beneath, the few-fld capitula borne solitary or 2-4 together in a few distal lf-axils, and beyond at efoliate nodes of a short, scarcely exserted pseudoraceme. Stipules erect, linear-lanceolate or linear (1.5—)2—6 x 0.4-0.9 mm, faintly 1-nerved or externally nerveless, deciduous. Lf-formula i/(5—)8—11; lf-stks including pulvinus 4.5-12 x 0.8-1.3 mm; rachis of longer pinnae 3.5-6 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 3-6 mm; lft-pulvinules in dorsal view 0.6-1 x 0.7-0.9 mm; lfts scarcely graduated, in outline linear-elliptic from inequilateral but scarcely auriculate base, obtuse or obtusely deltate at apex, the larger ones 12-25 x 2.8 5.7 mm, (3.9-)4-5.3 times as long as wide; primary venation of 4—5 nerves from pulvinule, the nearly straight, almost simple midrib displaced to divide blade 1:1.3-2.3, the inner posterior primary nerve expiring (faintly anastomosing) well beyond midblade, the outer posterior and one anterior one much shorter, secondary venules few and weak, the whole venation finely prominulous only dorsally. Peduncles 13-30 mm, ebracteate; capitula 4—6(-7)-fld, the sub- truncate receptacle 1.5-2 mm wide; bracts ±1-1.5 mm, caducous; fls subsessile, homomorphic; pedicels drum-shaped or almost discoid 0.6-0.9 x 1.2-1.6 mm; calyx shallowly campanulate 1.5-1.7 x ±2 mm, the depressed deltate teeth 0.5-0.6 mm; corolla 6-6.6 mm, the ovate, often unequal lobes 1-3 mm; androecium 28-30-merous, 23-25 mm, the stemonozone 1.2-1.4 mm, the tube 5.5-6 mm, the tassel opening white, rubescent. Pods (little known) in profile ±8 cm x 7.5 mm, the sutural ribs in dorsal view ±2.5 mm wide, minutely puberulent, the recessed valves brown-papillate with short obese trichomes, subgranular, obscurely venulose; seeds unknown.

    In campo rupestre, 980-1600 m, locally plentiful on the e. slope of Pico de Almas in the highlands of interior Bahia. — Fl. Ill-VII.

    Calliandra luetzelburgii is close to C. erubescens and to C. hygrophila. It resembles C. erubescens in stature, but differs in conjugate pinnae and somewhat more numerous (8-11, not 5-8) pairs of narrower leaflets 4-5, not 2.1-2.7, times as long as wide. Calliandra hygrophila differs from both in fewer (2-3) leaflet pairs, dwarf stature, and red tassel of filaments.