Lecythis idatimon Aubl.
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Family
Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)
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Scientific Name
Lecythis idatimon Aubl.
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Primary Citation
Hist. Pl. Guiane 2: 721. 1775
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Description
Author: Scott A. Mori
Type: French Guiana. Without locality, no date (fl), Aublet s.n. (lectotype , BM, photo F neg. 402 at NY, designated Fl. Neotrop. II. 1990; isolectotypes, BM- fragment, S).
Description: Trees, usually understory, infrequently canopy, 10-20(-35 m) tall, unbuttressed. Twigs gray, 1.5-2.5 mm diam. Bark smooth with scattered vertical cracks. Leaves not deciduous just before anthesis; petioles 9-20 mm long, glabrous, often canaliculate; blades narrowly elliptic to oblong, (8.5-)10-15(-24) x 4-9 cm, glabrous, usually coriaceous, the base obtuse, the margins entire, inconspicuously revolute; secondary veins in 12-16 pairs. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, of simple racemes or once-branched paniculate arrangements of racemes, the principal rachis 3-15 cm long, often pink or reddish, pubescent; pedicels jointed, 1-6 mm long below joint, 4-12 mm long above joint, tuberculate or rugose, green, pink or reddish, with widely ovate, cucullate, caducous bract 5.5 x 4 mm at base and two ovate, caducous bracteoles 4.5 x 2.5 mm inserted directly below joint. Flowers 2-2.5 cm diam.; hypanthium tuberculate or rugose; calyx with 6 ovate to very widely ovate, green or reddish lobes, 4.5-8 x 3.5-5.7 mm; petals 6, subequal, widely obovate, 14-16 x 11-13 mm, usually white with tinges of pink, entirely pink, or reddish-pink; androecium: staminal ring with 110-175 dimorphic stamens, the outermost strongly curved inwards, question mark shaped, 4-5 mm long, the innermost straight, 1-2 mm long, the anthers 0.4-0.5 mm long, the appendage free ligule with well-developed lateral flanges, the androecial hood flat, 12-17 x 12-16 mm, white or pink, the appendages antherless, when pink with white apices; hypanthium tuberculate or rugose, pubescent, cuneate at base; ovary (3-)4-locular, each locule with 2-5 ovules attached on lower part of septum, the summit truncate, the style geniculate, 4-8 mm long. Fruits conical, broadly conical, or turbinate, 3.5-5 (excluding operculum) x 2.5-4.5 cm, tuberculate or rugose, the operculum with style persisting as woody spine, the pericarp 2-3 mm thick. Seeds with basal/lateral aril, the aril extending from micropylar end to middle of seed, not projecting beyond base of seed (this observation needs further verification).
Common names: Surinam: oema barklak, pikin loeabi (Aucan Negro language), pínda-Ialoe (Saramaccan Negro language). French Guiana: lebi loabi (Paramaka language), mahot, mahot blanc, mahot rouge, weti loabiu (Paramaka language). Brazil: caçador, jatereu, matamatá, ripeira.
Distribution: Ranges from Surinam eastward and southward into the state of Maranhão, Brazil.
Ecology: A species of non-flooded forest, often locally common.
Phenology: It blooms from Aug through Jan.
Pollination: No reports of pollination have been recorded.
Dispersal: No reports of dispersal have been recorded but the aril suggests animal dispersal.
Predation: Norconk and Veres (2011) report that immature seeds of L. idatimon are preyed upon by white-faced sakis (Pithecia pithecia) who scrape the bases of the fruits to remove the seeds and by bearded sakis (Chriopotes sagulatus) who break open the fruits to remove the seeds. In both cases, the seeds are masticated and destroyed by these monkeys.
Taxonomic notes: This species has previously been identified as one of its synonyms, Eschweilera amara. The error began with Eyma (1932) who correctly associated the type of Lecythis amara with the species under consideration. However, he errored in retaining the species in Eschweilera and by failing to recognize that the type of L. idatimon represented the same species. The species falls within the Lecythis corrugata clade (Huang, 2010, 2011; Mori et al., in review) which merits segregation as a separate genus. The illustration of the leaves and flowers do not show the open androecial hood and rugose pedicel so characteristic of this species. Moreover, the yellow flower color described by Aublet is never found in any of the rugose species of Lecythis. I believe that Aublet's illustration of the habit, as well as part of his description of L. amara, probably refer to a species of Eschweilera, most likely E. coriacea. However, this cannot be established with certainty. The illustration of the fruit refers to a species of Lecythis because a four locular ovary is depicted. The form of the fruit is that of L. zabucajo but its "egg" size is not characteristic of mature fruits of this species. Consequently, I feel that the illustration of the fruit also cannot be placed to species with certainty. Aublet may have collected the closely related L. persistens. A sheet identified as L. amara, from Miers' herbarium marked "Guiane Aublet," has a packet containing a flower with a rugose pedicel, a hypanthium, and a drawing of a hood with the annotation "all staminiferous" (Eyma, 1932). These flowers could only come from L. persistens for it is the only Lecythis with tuberculate or rugose pedicels and hypanthia in combination with anther-bearing hood appendages. Nevertheless, Aublet made no mention of these important features in his protologue, and, therefore, I have excluded the flowers from the type. They may have even been placed in the packet by Miers. In summary, I have placed L. amara in synonymy with L. idatimon because the leaves of the two types are similar. Moveover, I conclude that Aublet's protologue description of L. amara includes two different species, neither of which can be identified with certainty. The only inconsistency with my treatment of these names is the appearance of a flower of L. persistens in a packet on one of the types of L. amara. I have chosen to use the leaves to typify L. amara because Aublet's protologue clearly does not refer to the salient features of the flowers of L. persistens. Lecythis idatimon is variable in flower color. The petals and hood are usually pink or red but sometimes may be white, especially in the more southern part of its range. Nevertheless, most collections of individuals with white petals and hoods have these parts tinged with different shades of pink at their margins and bases. Aublet (1775), in his description of L. lutea, says that it is identical to L. idatimon in all respects except that it possesses yellow instead of flesh-colored flowers. Lecythis lutea probably represents a plant which had white flowers and therefore it falls within the normal variation in flower color of L. idatimon. Aublet seems to have used dried flowers, which could be interpreted as yellow, when he wrote his description.
Field characters: This species is characterized by 1) a more-or-less smooth bark, 2) pedicels and hypathium usually tuberculate or at least rugose, 3) flower color white with various tinges of pink such that some flowers are nearly all pink, 4) a flat androecial hood and vestigial stamens of the hood without anthers or, at the most, very few vestigial anthers, 5) conical fruits with a tuberculate, less frequently rugose, pericarp, and 6) apparently basal lateral arils.
Conservation: IUCN Red List: Not on list.
Uses: Gazel (1990) says that the wood can be used for heavy carpentry and, because of its beauty, in crafts (artisanat d'art).
Etymology: The epithet refers to the common name. Aublet (1775) states that the "Nomen Caribaeum" for this species is idatimon.
Source: Based on Mori in Mori and Prance (1990).
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to C. M. Potascheff for allowing us to use her images to illustrate the characters of this species.
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Floras and Monographs
Lecythis idatimon Aubl.: [Article] Prance, Ghillean T. & Mori, S. A. 1979. Lecythidaceae - Part I. The actinomorphic-flowered New World Lecythidaceae (Asteranthos, Gustavia, Grias, Allantoma & Cariniana). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21: 1-270.
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Narratives
Bark, wood, and stem morphology and anatomy of Lecythis idatimon.
Inflorescence and flower morphology and anatomy of Lecythis idatimon.
