Eschweilera truncata A.C.Sm.

  • Family

    Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Eschweilera truncata A.C.Sm.

  • Primary Citation

    Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 60: 382. 1933

  • Type Specimens

    Specimen 1: Holotype -- B. A. Krukoff 1531

  • Description

    Author: Nathan P. Smith & Scott A. Mori

    Type: Brazil. Mato Grosso (now Rondônia), source of the Jatuarana River, Machado River region, Angustura, 5 Dec 1931 (fl), B. A. Krukoff 1531 (holotype, NY; isotypes, BM, INPA, K, MO, U).

    Description: Canopy trees, to 30 m tall, unbuttressed but trunk often irregular toward base. Bark brown, nearly smooth, with occasional, shallow, vertically oriented cracks, the outer bark ca. 1 mm thick, the inner bark 3-4 mm thick, yellowish brown. Leaves: petioles 8-17 mm long; blades elliplic, 10.5-20.5 x 5-8.5 cm, coriaceous, glabrous, the base obtuse, the margins entire, the apex acuminate to long acuminate; venation brochidodromous, the secondary veins in10-15 pairs. Inflorescences terminal, weakly once-branched paniculate arrangement of racemes, less frequently of simple racemes; pedicels 8-10 mm long, glabrous. Flowers when leaves present, ca. 4 cm diam.; calyx-lobes 6, 7-12 x 5.5-8 mm, imbricate; petals 6, light yellow; androecium zygomorphic; staminal ring flat, with 236-271 stamens; ligule well-developed, differentiated into appendage-free ligular area and hood, the hood with double coil; ovary 2-locular, the style broadly obconical, 1.2-1.5 mm long. Fruits globose, 1.5-3 (excluding operculum) x 2.5-3.5 cm, the calycine ring inserted below middle, often with persistent, nonaltered calyx-lobes, the pericarp 2-3 mm thick; operculum dome shaped, slightly umbonate. Seeds usually one per fruit, circular in cross section, ca. 20 x 15 mm, the testa smooth, light brown, the veins nearly plane to slightly impressed, lighter brown than testa.

    Common names: Brazil: Matamatá.

    Distribution: Central and western Amazonian Brazil.

    Ecology: Grows in non-flooded forest. Seedlings have been collected in Mar.

    Phenology: Flowers have been been collected from Oct to Feb. Fruits have been collected in Dec, Mar and Apr.

    Pollination: No reports of pollination have been recorded but other species of this genus with coiled, nectar-producing flowers are visited by bees.

    Dispersal: No reports of dispersal have been recorded.

    Predation: No observations recorded.

    Field characters: This species is characterized by its (I) somewhat irregular bole towards the base, (2) broad, nearly glabrous, imbricate calyx-lobes with a scarcely gibbous base, and (3) small fruits with unaltered, persistent caryx-lobes.

    Taxonomic notes: Eschweilera truncata is similar to E. coriacea but differs from the latter in its raised midrib on the adaxial leaf blade surface, more salient tertiary veins, more imbricate and thinner calyx-lobes, whiter corolla, and smaller, more delicate fruits. In the treatment of Eschweilera for Flora Neotropica (Mori & Prance, 1990), E. truncata was mistakenly placed in synonymy under E. coriacea. Fieldwork in central Amazonia has now made the differences between E. truncata and E. coriacea apparent. This fieldwork, and reevaluation of thc type (Krukoff J531), mandated that E. truncata be resurrected from synonymy and that E. rodriguesiana be placed in synonymy under it.

    Conservation: IUCN Red List: not on list (IUCN, 2012).

    Uses: No uses recorded.

    Etymology: The name of this species refers to its fruits, which are often often truncate from calycine ring to pedicel.

    Source: Based on Mori & Lepsch-Cunha (1995).

  • Floras and Monographs

    Eschweilera truncata A.C.Sm.: [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.