Cariniana domestica (Mart.) Miers

  • Family

    Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Cariniana domestica (Mart.) Miers

  • Primary Citation

    Trans. Linn. Soc. London 30: 286. 1874

  • Basionym

    Couratari domestica Mart.

  • Description

    Author: Nathan P. Smith, Scott A. Mori & Ghillean T. Prance

    Type: Brazil. Mato Grosso: Cuiaba, fl, Silva Manso s.n. (Herb. Martius 207) (holotype, BR; isotypes, FI, G, LE, M, NY, P, W; frag, K). Prance and Mori (1979) note that one sheet at LE with this number is a Dilleniaceae.

    Description: Tree to 50.0 m tall, the young branches puberulous, becoming glabrous, not conspicuously lenticellate. Leaves: petioles 5.0-10.0 mm long, slightly winged, sparsely puberulous when young; blades oblong-ovate, 6.0-12.0 x 4.0-6.5 cm, glabrous abaxially, the base, subcuneate, slightly decurrent onto petioles, the margins crenulate, tapered from above the midpoint, the apex acuminate, acumen 5.0-10.0 mm long, curved; midrib prominulous above, prominent beneath, sparsely puberulous on both surfaces, becoming glabrous with age, the secondary veins in 19-24 pairs, prominulous on both surfaces, 2.0-5.0 mm apart at base, with distinct domatia at junction with midrib and most veins, the domatia with a small pilose tuft of hair. Inflorescences terminal and subterminal racemose panicles, to 15.0 cm long, the rachis and branches sparsely puberulous, not crustaceous; pedicels 0.5-1.0 mm long. Flowers: calyx ca. 3.0 mm long, turbinate, the lobes triangular, sparsely puberulous on exterior; petals obovate, ca. 6.0-8.0 mm long, usually red, rarely white; androecium obliquely zygomorphic, ca. 2.0 mm in diam., with over 50 stamens on filaments inserted all over the inner surface; gynoecium with 3-locular ovary, the style short. Fruits 5.5-7.0 cm long, 3.0-4.0 cm maximum diam. near apex, exterior usually slightly costate, not warted, the calycine ring 1.0-1.5 cm below apex, the pericarp thick, to 1.0 cm at line of opercular dehiscence, smooth, without teeth at mouth; operculum 1.5-1.8 cm diam. at apex, to 5.5 cm long, the columella triangular. Seeds: wings to 3.0 cm long, the seed more or less pyriform, 8.0 x 4.0 mm.

    Common names: Brazil: cachimbeira and jequitibá (Prance & Mori, 1979); tike-uba (Jacobs et al., 1990).

    Distribution: A widespread species in the southern Amazon from Acre (Brazil), Bolivia and Peru to Maranhão (Brazil), as well as south of this region to Goiás and Mato Grosso, in central Brazil.

    Ecology: This speices is found in non-flooded, Amazonian forest and gallery forest in the Brazilian Highlands (Planalto) in central Brazil.

    Phenology: Flowers have been collected from Sep to Mar. Fruits have been collected from Apr-Oct and Dec.

    Pollination: There are no observations available for any of the red to orange petaled species of Cariniana.

    Dispersal: The unilaterally winged seeds are dispersed by the wind.

    Predation: No observations recorded.

    Field characters: This species can be recognized by its large size; leaf blades that are 6-12 cm long, with a puberulous midrib, 19-24 pairs of secondary veins, and domatia at the junction of midrib and secondary veins (on the abaxial surface); erect inflorescences; flowers that are 14-18 mm diam. with petals that are often red; fruits that lack teeth along the opercular rim; and seeds that are unilaterally winged.

    Taxonomic notes: The only species that can be confused with C. domestica is C. rubra, which is a smaller tree with somewhat larger leaves and more secondary veins (Prance & Mori, 1979). Further study is needed to more definitively determine the differences between these two species. The original description does not cite the type collection, but the locality is given as Cuiaba. The material in the Martius Herbarium at Bruxelles was collected by Silva Manso at Cuiaba and this is the type with the duplicates labeled only Herb. Martius No. 207 (Prance & Mori, 1979).

    Uses: In Rondônia, Brazil, the bark of this species is used to make an arrow poison (Jacobs et al., 1990). Janovik et al. (2011, 2012) showed that that C. domestica exhibits large amounts of phenolic compounds and flavonoids and great antioxidant properties. Many species of Cariniana produce valuable timber.

    Etymology: The name refers to the cavities in some of the axils between the midrib and secondary veins which are most likely inhabited by mites.

    Conservation: IUCN Red List: Not on list.

    Source: Based on Prance and Mori (1979).

    Acknowledgements: We are grateful to A. Araujo-M, R. Foster, and M. Nee for allowing us to use their images to illustrate the characters of this species.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Cariniana domestica (Mart.) Miers: [Article] Prance, Ghillean T. & Mori, S. A. 1979. Lecythidaceae - Part I. The actinomorphic-flowered New World Lecythidaceae (Asteranthos, Gustavia, Grias, Allantoma & Cariniana). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21: 1-270.