Morphology of the Lecythis corrugata clade.

  • Title

    Morphology of the Lecythis corrugata clade.

  • Authors

    Scott Alan Mori, Caroline Carollo, Nathan P. Smith

  • Scientific Name

    Lecythis Loefl.

  • Description

    From Huang et al. (in press)

    Lecythis corrugata clade (99% BS; Fig. 1B) — This clade includes all five species of Lecythis section Corrugata recognized by Mori (1990b). Species of L. section Corrugata are found in the Guianas and eastern Amazonian Brazil (Huang, 2010).

     Synapomorphies for this clade are the presence of rugose/tuberculate pedicels and hypanthia (character 14; Figs. 2B, 13E–F) and ligular flanges (absent in L. corrugata) (character 28, Fig. 13B–D). Other synapomorphies include the presence of a non-coiled ligule (character 26; Fig. 13), an open androecium (absent in L. corrugata, character 33; Fig. 13B–D), anther dimorphism (character 36), and four-locular ovaries (character 39). The monophyly of the L. corrugata clade in the present study is consistent with Mori (1990b), Mori et al. (2007), and Huang et al. (2011). However, recovering the L. corrugata clade as sister to the E. parvifolia clade has not been suggested before.

    Within this clade, one of the species (L. corrugata) is morphologically similar to species of Corythophora, especially to the two species in the C. amapaensis/C. labriculata clade, as indicated by dorsi-ventrally thickened, closed androecial hoods (character 33; Figs. 9D, I, 13A). Huang et al. (2011) pointed out that the L. corrugata and Corythophora clades have non-coiled ligules (character 26; Figs. 13A–C), appendages on one side of the ligule (character 29; Figs. 13A–C), anther dimorphism (character 36), and seeds with basal arils (characters 47, 48; Figs. 9L, 13F). However, all species in this clade (other than L. corrugata) are easily separated from Corythophora by an open instead of a closed androecium, the presence of lateral flanges, and four instead of a two-locular (except C. labriculata) ovaries. In this study, the close relationship of the L. corrugata and Corythophora clades is not supported. A close relationship of these clades was supported by Huang et al. (2011), but the only synapomorphy was the presence of anther dimorphism (character 36).