Eschweilera mexicana T.Wendt, S.A.Mori & Prance

  • Family

    Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Eschweilera mexicana T.Wendt, S.A.Mori & Prance

  • Primary Citation

    Brittonia 37: 347. 1985

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Isotype -- T. L. Wendt 4468

  • Description

    Author: Scott A. Mori

    Type: Mexico. Oaxaca: Município Santa María Chimalapa, Zona de Uxpanapa, hills to N and E of Arroyo Chocolín, Congregación Nicolás Bravo, to N and E of Rancho Rutt, ca 3-5 km S of Rió Alegre (Veracruz), 17° 10' 30"N, 94° 42' W, elev. 250 m, 16 Jul 1984 (fl), Wendt & Montero 4468 (holotype, MEXU; isotypes; CHAPA, MO, NY, TEX, XAL).

    Description: Canopy trees, to 35 m tall, with small to medium-sized, thick buttresses on larger trees. Bark dark brown, usually with shallow, sharp-rimmed depressessions (scalloped), paler lenticels disposed in vertical rows, the outer bark very thin, the inner bark pale brown or rose-brown when cut; sapwood nearly white. Stipules obvious only during leaf flush, narrowly lanceolate, 0.5-1 mm long. Leaves: petioles 8-15 mm long x 1.5-2.5 mm thick; blades elliptic to narrowly ovate-elliptic, 8-20 x 2.5-7 cm, chartaceous to coriaceous, glabrous, punctate abaxially, the base rounded to obtuse, very narrowly decurrent, the margens entire, the apex broadly to narrowly acuminate; secondary veins in 10-15 pairs. Inflorescences terminal (suprafoliar) or axillary, usually once-branched, sometimes unbranched, the main rachis 2-9 cm long; pedicel/hypanthium 4-6 mm long, tapered to articulation, not sulcate, glabrous, not or sparsely lenticellate. Flowers ca. 4-5 cm diam.; calyx with 6 lobes, the lobes broadly ovate, 3.5-6 x 3-5 mm, horizontally or obliquely oriented, concave adaxially, carinate and slightly gibbous abaxially, not imbricate; petals 6, white (cream-yellow in bud); androecial hood yellow, especially at entrance to flower and in vestigial anthers, 2-coiled, the innermost appendages starting to form third coil. Fruits 2.5-5 x 4-6.5 cm, globose to depressed globose (including operculum), the calycine ring conspicuous continuous, the calyx-lobes not markedly differentiated from the calyx-lobes, the supracalycine zone ± erect, the infracalycine zone rounded to base, the pericarp ca. 2 mm thick when dry. Seeds 1-6 per fruit, hemispherical or triangular (rarely round) depending on number of seeds per fruit, dark chesnut brown with pale veins when fresh, paler when dry, the veins splitting into several at chalazal end of seed; aril lateral, poorly developed. Seedlings with several scale-like cataphylls below leaves, the first leaves very obscurely dentate, with minute, marginal hairs to 0.5 mm long.

    Common names: Mexico: cajita, jicarillo (fide Wendt et al., 1985)

    Distribution: Known only from both sides of the Veracruz-Oaxaca border in the southern part of the Uxpanapa area, Mexico

    Ecology: Locally very common but apparently occurs in relatively isolated populations within larger areas of seemingly appropriate habitat. It is restricted to the steep, hilly, southern portion of Uxpanapa, where it grows only on hilltops in deep soils as a co-dominant in rain forest in which other common tree species are Dialium guianense, Terminalia amazonia, Licania hypoleuca, Symphonia globulifera, Ormosia panamensis, Calophyllum brasiliense var. rekoi, Tapirira sp., and Pouteria spp. (Wendt et al., 1985).

    Phenology: Leaf flush following leaf drop was observed in December. Neither flowering nor fruiting seems to be hightly synchronous. Flowering, observed only in July, was only recorded for a few individuals at that time. Both immature and mature fruits on different trees have been observed from May through October (Wendt et al., 1985).

    Pollination: No observations have been recorded but the most efficienct pollinators are most likely bees

    Dispersal: No observations have been recorded. Although the fruit is freely operculate , fallen fruits without the operculum and containing germinating seeds have often been observed (Wendt et al., 1985).

    Predation: No observations recorded.

    Taxonomic notes: There are no other species of Lecythidaceae in Mexico to confuse this species with. The affinities of Eschweilera mexicana have not yet been established. Wendt et al. (1985) note that the stamens on the ligular side of the staminal ring are slightly elevated on a "disc" which is something that has not yet been recorded for any other species of Lecythidaceae.

    Conservation: IUCN Red List: Vulnerable A1c ver 2.3 (World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. Eschweilera mexicana. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 14 March 2014.).

    Uses: None recorded

    Etymology: The species epithet refers to the country in which it appears to be endemic.

    Source: This species page is based on Mori in Mori & Prance, 1990.

    Acknowledgements: We are grateful to E. Saavedra and T. Wendt for allowing us to use their images to illustrate the characters of this species.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Eschweilera mexicana T.Wendt, S.A.Mori & Prance: [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.