Eschweilera rhododendrifolia (R.Knuth) A.C.Sm.

Description

Author: Nathan P. Smith & Scott A. Mori

Type: Same as for the basionym Chrytroma rhodendrifolia R. Knuth.

Description: Small to medium-sized trees, to 30 m tall, the trunk cylindric to ground. Bark with shallow fissures, the outer bark maroon, the inner bark yellow-chesnut, the sapwood yellow (fide Assunção et al. 365 Leaves: petioles 6-12 mm long, sometimes with narrowly decurrent blades; blades elliptic to narrowly elliptic, 15-19 x 4.5-8 cm, glabrous, without punctae, chartaceous, the base acute to obtuse, the margins entire, the apex acuminate; venation somewhat eucamptodromous toward base, weakly brochidodromous toward apex, the secondary veins in 13-20 pairs. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, paniculate arrangement of spikes with two orders of branching, the principal rachis 5-18 cm long, puberulous, lenticellate, the lateral rachises well-developed, to 12 cm long, the flowers sessile. Flowers when leaves present, ca. 3 cm diam.; hypanthium truncate, with external ferrugineous pubescence; calyx-lobes 6, very widely ovate, 4.5-8 x 5-8 mm, erect, strongly imbricate, abaxially convex, adaxially flat; petals 6, yellow; androecium zygomorphic; staminal ring flat, asymmetric, with ca. 260 stamens, the filaments ca. 1.3mm long, not or only slightly expanded toward apex, the anthers 0.3 mm long; ligule well-developed, differentiated into appendage-free ligular area and hood, the hood with double coil, 10-12 x 9-14 mm, yellow; ovary 2-locular, with 12-15 ovules attached at juncture of septum and floor of locule, the summit slightly elevated, the style obconical, 2-2.5 mm long, not well differentiated from summit. Fruits cup-shaped, ca. 6 x 8 cm (excluding operculum), the exocarp rough, unknown at maturity.

Common names: No names recorded.

Distribution: Known only from central Amazonia around Manaus.

Ecology: A tree of non-flooded forest.

Phenology: Flowers have been collected in Jul and Aug.

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: Eschweilera rhodendrifolia is characterized by its relatively small size; cylindric trunk; leaf blades that are more-or-less eucamptodromous toward the base and very weakly brochidodromous toward the apex; once-branched inflorescences; inflorescence rachises with horizontally oriented squamulae scars and, early in development, with a caducous ferruginous pubescence, especially toward the apices of the rachises; sessile flowers; strongly imbricate calyx-lobes; and cup-shaped to short cylindric fruits with a rough exocarp.

Taxonomic notes: The fruits of E. rhododendrifolia are similar to those of E. amazonica but this species can be distinguished from the latter by the shorter and wider leaves; once-branched, long inflorescences (vs. unbranched, short rachises); absence of a distinction between the texture and color of the calyx-lobes (versus the brown hypanthium that contrasts with the black calyx-lobes).

Uses: No uses recorded.

Etymology: The species epithet alludes to the presumed rhododendron looking leaves of this species.

Conservation: IUCN Red List: Vulnerable D2 ver 2.3 (Pires O'Brien, J. 1998. Eschweilera rhododendrifolia. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 02 March 2012.)

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

Floras and Monographs

Eschweilera rhododendrifolia (R.Knuth) A.C.Sm.: [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.

Map Distribution

View all records of Eschweilera rhododendrifolia (R.Knuth) A.C.Sm.

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