Eschweilera amplexifolia S.A.Mori
-
Description
Author: Scott A. Mori
Type: PANAMA. Colón: Santa Rita Ridge Road, 26 Oct 1974 (fl), Mori & Kallunki 2791 (HOLOTYPE: MO; ISOTYPE: NY).
Description: Understory trees, to 20 m tall. Bark nearly smooth or with shallow longitudinal fissures. Leaves: petioles 2-6 mm long; blades 9-21 x 4.5-9 cm, elliptic, glabrous, chartaceous to somewhat coriaceous, the base obtuse, clasping the petiole apex and the lower midrib, the margins entire, the apex acuminate; secondary veins in 8-12 pairs. Inflorescences terminal (suprafoliar), unbranched, the rachis 1-3 cm long, glabrous; pedicel/hypanthium ca. 4 mm long, cylindric, ± truncate articulation, sulcate, glabrous, sparsely lenticellate. Flowers 3-4 cm diam.; calyx with 6 lobes, the lobes widely ovate, 3-5.5 x 2.5-4 mm, horizontally oriented, thick, carinate abaxially, flat to slightly concave adaxially, the bases not noticibly imbricate; petals pink, with streaks and dots of yellow and white to wine red; androecial hood with triple coiled, yellow with streaks of pink (see attached image of Mori & Kallunki 2791) to wine red (see attached image of Akers 5). Fruits 5-7 x 6-9.5 cm, depressed globose, the calyx ring represented by a scar, sometimes with calyx-lobes forming woody knobs, the supracalycine zone slightly oriented outward, the infracalycine zone usually truncate into woody pedicel/hypanthium, the pericarp 2-5 mm thick, the operculum convex, usually not umbonate or only slightly umbonate. Seeds ca. 6 per fruit, 4 x 2 cm; aril spreading, thin, white
Common names: None known.
Distribution: Endemic to the Caribbean coast and slopes of Panama in the provinces of Colón and San Blas from near sea level to 500 m alt.
Ecology: Wet forest from near sea level to 200 meters.
Phenology: Flowering collections of the upland population have been made in Jan, Jun, Aug Sep, Oct, and Nov and from the lowland population in Oct and Nov.
Pollination: The androecium produces nectar and the flowers are most likely pollinated by bees
Dispersal: The seeds are surrounded by a thin, white, spreading aril and this may attract animals but this has never been documented.
Predation: No observations recorded.
Field characters: This species is characterized by a leaf base that slightly clasps the midrib which can be seen in the image of the herbarium specimen.
Taxonomic notes: The flowers of the collections from the more upland terrain of Santa Rita Ridge Road and the El Llano-Carti Road (Correa & Dressler 594, 774, 4131, Dressler 4141, Knapp & Schmalzel 5468a, Lao et al. 9) have been described as entirely dark wine red, bright rose, or bright magenta. In addition, the collections of these areas have slightly smaller and more coriaceous leaves. Those from lower areas along the Caribbean coast (Mori & Kallunki 2791, 5208 and Mori & Witherspoon 5208) have pink petals with streaks and dots of yellow and white and a yellow androecial hood (see images attached to this page) and slightly larger and more chartaceous leaves. Collection Akers 5 from the Caribbean lowlands in Colón has flowers which are entirely bright rose (i.e., inlcuding the androecial hood) and relatively small but chartaceous leaves and, thus, appears to have the flower color and leaf size of the upland population but the chartaceous leaves of the lowland population. Because of this intermediate collection, I have chosen to include these two variants in the same species until additional collections prove otherwise.
Conservation: IUCN Red List: Endangered A1c, E ver 2.3 (Mitré, M. 1998. Eschweilera amplexifolia. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 13 March 2014.).
Uses: None known.
Etymology: The specific epithet alludes to the sllightly clasping leaf base.
Source: This species page is based on Mori in Mori & Prance, 1990.
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to C. Galdames (SCZ), Q. Lopez, and R. Flores for allowing us to use their images to illustrate the characters of this species.
-
Floras and Monographs
Eschweilera amplexifolia S.A.Mori: [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.
