Eschweilera grandiflora (Aubl.) Sandwith
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Family
Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)
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Scientific Name
Eschweilera grandiflora (Aubl.) Sandwith
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Primary Citation
Kew Bull. 10: 479. 1955
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Basionym
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Description
Author: Scott A. Mori and Ghillean T. Prance
Type: French Guiana. Without locality, no date (ft), Aublet s.n. (lectotype, BM, photo NY-F neg. 405, designated Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21(II). 1990).
Description: Small to medium-sized trees, to 20 m tall, unbuttressed. Bark more or less smooth, with conspicuous, vertically oriented lenticels, the inner bark yellowish-brown. Leaves not know to flush just before anthesis; petioles 9-30 mm long; blades elliptic or narrowly oblong to oblong, 10-35 x 5-14 cm, glabrous, chartaceous to coriaceous, often with faint, longitudinal striations, the base obtuse to rounded, the margins entire, slightly revolute, the apex short acuminate to acuminate ; secondary veins in 12-19 pairs, impressed adaxially thereby giving leaf surface undulate appearance. Inflorescences of simple racemes, terminal or in axils of uppermost leaves, the rachis often zig-zag, angular in cross section, 9-23 cm long, with 6-20 widely spaced flowers; pedicels jointed, 0-7 mm long below, 9-20 mm long above joint, subtended by cucullate, caducous, oblong bract, 9.5 x 7 mm, with two cucullate, caducous, oblong bracteoles, 6.5 x 5 mm inserted at joint. Flowers 4.5-6 cm diam.; calyx with 6 lobes, the lobes widely to very widely ovate, infrequently very widely oblong, 12-24 x 11-20 mm, imbricate for 3/4 length, relatively thin, convex abaxially, concave adaxially, often red or pink; petals irregularly shaped, the posterior ones often larger, widely obovate, inrolled at apex, appressed against androecium, white or most often white with tinges of pink or red, especially at margins and apex, 30-57 x 19-35 mm; androecium with staminal ring surrounded by marginal flap 1-2 mm high, with 250-400 stamens, the filaments clavate, white, 3-4 mm long, the anthers ca. 1 mm long, yellow; hood 20-30 x 20-30 mm, white or yellow on outside, more intense yellow on inside, triple coiled but third coil poorly developed, the appendages without anthers, yellow; ovary (2-)4(-5)-locular, each locule with 4-8 basally attached ovules, the style oblique, white, 4-8 mm long, well differentiated from slightly umbonate summit of ovary, the stigma pink. Fruits depressed globose, 2.5-4 x 5-6 cm, the persistent calyx-lobes attached near base, the supracalycine zone occupying most of fruit, the pericarp 2-4 mm thick, the operculum slightly convex, umbonate. Seeds 1-several per fruit, round in cross section, turning bluish-green when cut, 2.5 x 2 cm; aril lateral, 22 x 7 mm.
Common names: French Guiana: baikaaki (Paramaka), mahot blanc, mahot noir (Créole), weti loabi (Paramaka). Brazil: castanha vermelha, castanharana, matamatá, matamatá amarelo, matamatá branco, matamatá róseo, tibira.
Distribution: This species ranges from French Guiana into eastern, central, and western Amazonian Brazil into Amazonian Peru.
Ecology: Eschweilera grandiflora is a small to medium-sized understory tree of lowland, non-flooded forests.
Phenology: This species flowers most profusely from Oct to Jan and matures fruit from Jan to Mar in the Guianas. Flowers have been collected in Feb and Apr in Peru.
Pollination: These observations are taken from Mori and Boeke (1987). Eschweilera grandiflora produces relatively few flowers, 4.5-6 cm in diameter, scattered within the crown. It has white petals flushed with pink and a light yellow androecial hood. The petals curve upwards, forming a cup which makes access into the androecium even more difficult than usual for Eschweilera. The principal flower visitors are four species of euglossine bees, Eufriesea ornata, E. chrysopyga, E. purpurata, and Eulaema peruviana. The large bees (Eulaema peruviana>, and Eufriesea ornata) are indistingiushable on the wing. These large bees are the commonest and apparently best-adapted pollinators of E. grandiflora. The bees land on the hood of the flower and force it open with their powerful heads. The visits are few (1-4 flowers per tree per visit) and lengthy (visits of 10, 45, 55, 75, and 115 seconds were recorded). These bees feed on nectar at E. grandiflora flowers and were not observed to collect pollen. Many, however, carried full corbiculae, suggesting recent foraging for pollen from other species. The smaller Eufriesea purpurata and E. chrysopyga visited the flowers differently. Their visits lasted only 5-10 seconds, during which time they disappeared completely into the flowers. Once out ofthe flowers again, they hovered and packed pollen into their corbiculae just as described above for Euglossa mixta in the flowers of Corythophora amapaensis. Thus, these smaller species of Eufriesea appear to come to E. grandiflora primarily for pollen. Two additional unidentified euglossines were seen visiting E. grandiflora. One was slightly larger than Eufriesea purpurata but a uniform metallic green. On several occasions, a smaller, metallic green Euglossa unsuccessfully attempted to force its way into the androecium. Megachile sp. 1 was captured after it had entered several flowers, apparently to collect pollen, with which it was covered. In addition, the hummingbird Heliothrix aurita visited the flowers, but it contacted neither the anthers nor the stigma during its effort to collect nectar.
Dispersal: No observations recorded but the lateral aril may be eaten by animals.
Predation: No observations recorded.
Field characters: Eschweilera grandiflora is characterized by relatively large leaves of with faint longitudinal striations; zig-zag, usually unbranched inflorescences; large flowers with broad, imbricate calyx-lobes and relatively long, oblique styles; and fruits with persistent but unmodified calyx-lobes that are often reddish in color.
Taxonomic notes: Aublet clearly depicts the habit and flowers of this species in his plates 283 and 284. However, the fruits he ascribes to Eschweilera grandiflora in figures 14-20 of plate 285 are those of Lecythis zabucajo. Three collections (Mori & de Granville 8908, 8910, and Lescure 863) are larger trees and have smaller leaves than are normally found in this species and may represent a distinct species. Mori et al. 25413 has a triple-coiled androecial hood (see specimen record and attached image) which suggests that either this androecial hood character is variable or we have two species mascarading as one.
Conservation: IUCN Red List: not on list (IUCN, 2012).
Uses: None recorded.
Etymology: The species epithet refers to the relatively large flowers of this species.
Source: This species page is based on Mori in Mori & Prance, 1990.
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to C. Gracie for allowing us to use her images to illustrate the characters of this species.
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Floras and Monographs
Eschweilera grandiflora (Aubl.) Sandwith: [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.
Eschweilera grandiflora (Aubl.) Sandwith: [Article] Mori, S. A. & Lepsch da Cunha, Nadia M. 1995. The Lecythidaceae of a central Amazonian moist forest. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 75: 1-55.
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Narratives
