Eschweilera mattos-silvae S.A.Mori
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Description
Author: Scott A. Mori & Nathan P. Smith
Type: Brasil. Bahia, Mun. Uruçuca, 7.3 km N da Serra Grande, estrada para Itacaré, Fazenda Lagoa do grupo Fazenda Santa Cruz, 14°25' S, 39°03' W, 6 May 1992 (fl., immature fr), Thomas et at. 9165 (holotype, CEPEC; isotypes, K, MO, NY, U, US).
Description: Trees, to 10-25 m tall, without buttresses (fide Thomas et al. 9294). Bark slightly fissured, the outer bark thinner than inner bark. Twigs (2)3-4 mm diam. Leaves and flowers present at same time: petioles 10-15 mm long, 2-3 mm diam. at middle; blades elliptic to lanceolate, 12-18.5 x 5-7 cm, glabrous, coriaceous, the base obtuse to rounded, the margins entire, slightly revolute when dry, the apex distinctly acuminate, the acumen greater than 5 mm long; venation eucamptodromous for most of length, brochidodromous toward apex, the midrib slightly carinate for entire length adaxially, salient abaxially, the secondary veins in 7-12 pairs, plane adaxially, prominent abaxially, intersecondaries present, the higher order venation plane adaxially, prominulous abaxially, scarcely visible adaxially, prominent abaxially when dry. Inflorescences unbranched or 1-branched, ramiflorous, axillary, or terminal, the main rachis 4-10 cm long; pedicels tapered to articulation, ca. 5 mm long, ca. 2 mm diam. at middle; bract and bractioles caducous. Flowers ca. 4-5 cm diam.; calyx with 6 lobes, the lobes broadly ovate. 2-2.5 mm wide, not imbricate, united at bases to form calycine rim, the apices obtuse to rounded; petals (5)6, unequal, obovate, (16-)20-32 x (16-)20-25 mm, yellow; androecium with staminal ring with 150-205 stamens, the filaments clavate, longer ones on ligular side of staminal ring with filaments ca. 3 mm long, the shorter ones on anterior and lateral sides of staminal ring with filaments 1.5-20 mm long, the anthers of both longer and shorter stamens equal in length, 0.7-1 mm long, staminal ring lip erect, the hood yellow with single coil bearing short vestigial stamens on exterior surface and longer, angular staminodes and vestigial stamens on interior surface; anterior hood extension absent; ovary 2-locular, each locule with 9-12 ovules inserted on floor of locule, the summit of ovary umbonate, the umbo 2.5 mm long, the style cylindircal, short, 0.5 mm long, slightly obliquely oriented toward anterior end of flower, not well differentiated from summit of ovary. Fruits broadly turbinate, ca. 4.5-9 (excluding operculum) x 5.5-13 cm, the calycine ring inserted near or above middle, the infracalycine zone tapered or rounded from calycine ring to pedicel, the supracalycine zone erect to opercular opening, the pericarp 15-20 mm thick, the operculum umbonate. Seeds ca. 4 per fruit, globose, irregular in cross-section, ca. 3-4 x 2.5-3.5 cm, the testa chesnut colored, the veins impressed, same color but less shiny than surface of testa when dry, the areas between veins smooth (i.e., higher order veins not visible) in dry seeds; aril subbasal, small.
Common names: Brazil: Biriba (Sant'ana et al. 316), inhaíba jucaré (Thomas et al. 9165).
Distribution: Endemic to the central Bahian coastal forests of Brazil. Known only from N of Itabuna to west of Salvador and from a collection from the vicinity of Maceió, Alagoas.
Ecology: A small to medium-sized tree of moist to wet coastal forest from 400 to 600 meters alt.
Phenology: Flowers of this species have been collected in Feb, Apr, and May, nearly mature fr in May, and nearly mature seeds in Oct.
Pollination: On the label of Jardim et al. 2874 it is reported that the flowers are visited by carpenter (cited as mangagava and other bees.
Dispersal: No observations recorded. Arils have not been recorded for this species but seeds with scars indicate that they probably possess an aril that may attract animal dispersal agents such as bats.
Predation: No observations recorded.
Field characters: This species is recognized by its small to medium stature; shallowly fissured bark; medium-sized coriaceous leaf blades with acuminate apices; flowers with both yellow petals and androecial hoods; calyx with the lobes fused at their bases to form a calycine rim bearing 6 well defined lobes along the margin of the rim; and petals (5)6. The fruits are larger than those of the other species in this group but it is difficult to use this to separate species because not enough is known the variation in fruit size among most of the species.
Taxonomic notes: This species is part of a group of eight species belonging to Eschweilera sect. Tetrapetala as defined by Mori and Prance in Mori and Prance (1990). See the species page of Eschweilera tetrapetala for a discussion of the features of this section. The fruits of Andrade-Lima 52-1009 differ in their smaller size more truncate supracalycine zone, and thinner pericarp and measurements from it have not been used in the description.
Conservation: IUCN Red List: not on list (IUCN, 2009). Plantas Raras do Brasil: rare (Giulietti et al., 2009). This species is known only from southern Bahia, Brazil and should be added to the IUCN red list.
Uses: None recorded
Etymology: This species is dedicated to Luiz Alberto Mattos Silva with whom the species author of this species had the pleasure to work with in the herbarium of the Centro de Pesquisas do Cacau (CEPEC) from 1978 to 1980.
Source: Based on Mori (1995).
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to B. Angell for allowing us to use her line drawing to illustrate the characters of this species.
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