Lecythis retusa Spruce ex O.Berg
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Family
Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)
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Scientific Name
Lecythis retusa Spruce ex O.Berg
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Primary Citation
Fl. Bras. (Martius) 14(1): 487. 1858
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Type Specimens
Specimen 1: Isolectotype -- R. Spruce 1166
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Description
Author: Scott A. Mori & N. P. Smith
Type: Brazil. Amazonas: Vicinity of Barra (Manaus), prov. Rio Negro, Dec-Mar 1850-1851(fl), Spruce 1166 (lectotype, BM, photo NY; isolectotypes, K, LE, n.v., M, NY).
Description: Understory to canopy trees to 30 m tall, the trunk not buttressed. Bark rough, vertically fissured, the outer bark 2-3 mm thick, the inner bark 5-7 mm thick (Mori 27273), red. Stems rimose after drying, smooth and gray when fresh, glabrous (older growth) to puburulent (younger growth). Leaves: petioles 8–20 mm long, minutely puberulous, canaliculate; blades elliptic to oblong, infrequently narrowly obovate, 9-28 x 6-13 cm, coriaceous, glabrous and green adaxially, white abaxially (because of papillae), the base obtuse, the margins entire, the apex mucronate to short acuminate; venation brochidodromous to weakly eucamptodromous, the midrib prominent adaxially, salient, puberulous, and usually rounded abaxially, the secondary veins in 13-21 pairs, prominent, intersecondary veins present, often prominulous, the tertiary veins reticulate. Inflorescences terminal, racemose, unbranched or with one order of branching, the branches paniculately arranged, principle rachis 4–11 cm long, puberulous, with 1 to several flowers per day; pedicel/hypanthium 1–2 mm long below articulation, 3–5 mm long above articulation, the bract and bracteoles caducous. Flowers when leaves present, ca. 6 cm diam.; hypanthium truncate, suclate, puberulous, green, longitudinally oriented mucilage-bearing ducts present; calyx-lobes 6, widely ovate, imbricate, 5-9 x 5-8 mm, carinate, glabrous, green; petals 6, widely oblong, widely elliptic, or widely obovate, subequal, often asymmetrical, 20-30 x 15-20 mm, pale yellow or cream; androecium zygomorphic, a staminal lip present, the staminal ring with ca. 190 stamens, the filaments 4–5 mm long, gradually expanded to apex, curved inward toward apex, the anthers 0.5 mm long, yellow, the hood curved, forming a single or partial coil (e.g., N. P. Smith 398), 1-1.5 x 1-1.25 cm, outer surface texture smooth, light yellow proximally, darker yellow distally (i.e., at entrance into flower), vestigial stamens present throughout, sometimes stalked, proximal vestigial stamens swept inward and partially fused, sometimes distinct and on inside of coil, yellow, staminodes absent, anterior hood extension absent; ovary (3-)4 locular (6?, see Silva 4510, NY682029), the ovary summit truncate to slightly elevated, radial thickenings present, the ovules 7-11 per locule, inserted on basal septum, oblique, the style tapering to apex, oblique, ca. 4 mm long, stylar collar absent. Fruits dehiscent, depressed globose, (3-)4–6 x (3.5-)4.5–8 cm, the calyx-lobes persistent, woody, the infracalycine zone 2–4 cm long, rounded to truncate to pedicel, the supracalycine zone 1–2 cm long, erect, the pericarp thickness not known, brown, the operculum umbonate (from immature fruit). Seeds ca. 5 per fruit, 2.5-3 x 1.5-2 cm (Kinupp 1272, INPA), testa thickness and color not known, the veins salient; aril present, short, covering micropylar half of seed.
Common names: Brazil: castanha jarana, jarana, jarana-da-folha-grande.
Distribution: Known only from the central Brazilian Amazon.
Ecology: A canopy tree of nonflooded forests.
Phenology: Flowers from Nov to Feb.
Pollination: Prance 23256 notes that the flowers were sweet scented and visited by large and small bees. No other observations have been recorded but the yellow entrance into the flower, the presence of both pollen and nectar as possible rewards, and the documentation of bee visitation in similar types of flowers (Mori & Boeke, 1987) indicate that bees may be the pollinators.
Dispersal: No observations recorded but the presence of a basal aril suggests that animals, especially bats, may be the dispersal agents.
Predation: No observations recorded.
Field characters: Understory to canopy trees at anthesis; bark with shallow vertical fissures, the outer bark thin, the inner bark thicker, red; leaves discolorous with the adaxial surface green and the abaxial surface whitish because of microscopic papillae; flowers ca. 6 cm diam., the petals white, the ligule yellow proximally to darker yellow at entrance to flower; fruits dehiscent; seeds with short, basal aril.
Taxonomic notes: Lecythis retusa has affinities with L. alutacea from which it differs in its minutely papillate abaxial leaf surface and by the absence of mucilage-bearing ducts in its sepals and ovary. Based on recent molecular data there is weak support for a relationship of L. retusa with L. gracieana, L. rorida, and L. parvifructa and other members of the Lecythis chartacea clade as defined by Huang et al. (in review).
Conservation: IUCN Red List: Lower Risk/near threatened ver 2.3 (1998). Plantas Raras do Brasil: Not on list.
Uses: No uses have been recorded.
Etymology: The species epithet probably refers to the very slightly emarginate leaf blade apex of some leaves of the type (Spruce 1166) but other leaves of the type are mucronate.
Source: This species page is based on Mori in Mori & Prance, 1990.
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Floras and Monographs
Lecythis retusa Spruce ex O.Berg: [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.
Lecythis retusa Spruce ex O.Berg: [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
Inflorescence and flower morphology and anatomy of Lecythis retusa.
