Eschweilera caudiculata R.Knuth

  • Family

    Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Eschweilera caudiculata R.Knuth

  • Primary Citation

    Pflanzenr. (Engler) IV.219a: 95. 1939

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Holotype -- W. Kalbreyer 1860, verif. S. A. Mori, 20/10/2005

  • Description

    Author: Scott A. Mori & X. Cornejo

    Type: Colombia. Antioquia: Penitas, 1880 (fl), Kalbreyer 1860 (holotype, B, not found; lectotype, K, designated in Mori & Prance, 1990, photo NY-K neg. no. 16386).

    Description: Small to medium sized trees, 3-15 m tall. Leaf blades usually elliptic to narrowly elliptic, infrequently lanceolate, 13-27 x 5-11 cm, glabrous, punctate abaxially, with 12-17 pairs of lateral veins; apex acuminate to very long acuminate or attenuate; base acute, obtuse, or rounded; margins entire; petiole 5-11 mm long. Inflorescences usually cauline, often from woody outgrowth on trunk, less frequently in axils of uppermost leaves, simple racemes, often with several arising from same place, the rachis, 3.5-20 cm long, often very slender, flowers usually widely spaced, the pedicel bases persisting as woody knobs, the pedicels 7-12 mm long, glabrous, without conspicuous lenticels. Flowers 5-7 cm diam.; calyx with six lobes, the lobes very widely to widely ovate, 35 x 4-5.5 mm, spreading, not imbricate, convex abaxially, concave adaxially; petals six, widely obovate, 24-44 x 17-31 mm, purple; hood of androecium 19-28 x 20-25 mm, forming double coil, purple; staminal ring with 170-326 stamens, the filaments 2-3 mmlong, clavate, purple at base, white at apex or completely white, the anthers 0.5-1.0 mm long, yellow; hypanthium cuneate, glabrous, not conspicuously lenticellate but sometimes minutely papillate; ovary 2(-3) locular, each locule with 5-11 ovules attached to placenta on floor of locule, the style 4-6 mml ong. Immature fruits turbinate; operculum with conspicuous umbo. Immature seeds with well-developed, yellow, lateral aril.

    Common names: Ecuador: angua de mono (Cornejo & Bonifaz 312)

    Distribution: An Andean species ranging from eastern Panama to southern Ecuador. Specimens from the Osa Peninsula have also been identified as this species but they may represent a separate species.

    Ecology: Generally found in non-flooded forests at 1000 to 2500 m but may descend to 760 m in southern Ecuador.

    Phenology: Flowering collections have been made in all months except Mar, Apr, Jun, and Dec. However, peak flowering appears to occur from Jan to May in Panama, from Jul to Oct in Colombia, and from Aug to Nov in Ecuador.

    Pollination: Jette Knudsen and Bertil Ståhl (pers. comm. to S. A. Mori, 2009) report that the Cerro Samama population of this species has scentless flowers visited by long-tongued bees.

    Dispersal: No observations reported

    Predation: No observations reported.

    Field characters: This species is characterized by its cauline or ramiflorous inflorescences which often possess long slender rachises; non-imbricate calyx-lobes; purple to red petals; purple to red androecial hood with a triple coil; well-defined, cylindric style; and seeds with a well-developed, yellow aril. Note that the aril of this species is slightly different from that of most species of Eschweilera in that it tends to extend slightly over the ends of the seed, is distincly yellow, and the tissue becomes very hard when it dries.

    Taxonomic notes: The species belongs to the Eschweilera integrifolia clade which is characterized by a triple-coiled androecial hood and an aril that is lateral and curves slightly around the apices of the seeds. This species shows considerable variability throughout its range and needs to be studied as more collections accumulate. There is the possibility that we have included more than one species in our concept of the species.

    Conservation: This taxon has not yet been assessed for the IUCN Red List.

    Uses: None recorded.

    Etymology: The species epithet most likely refers to the long acuminate leaf blade apex.

    Source: Based on Mori & Prance (1990)

  • Floras and Monographs

    Eschweilera caudiculata R.Knuth: [Article] Mori, S. A. & Prance, Ghillean T. 1990. Lecythidaceae - Part II: The zygomorphic-flowered New World genera (Couroupita, Corythophora, Bertholletia, Couratari, Eschweilera, & Lecythis). With a study of secondary xylem of Neotropical Lecythidaceae by Carl de Zeeuw. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21: 1-376.