Esenbeckia febrifuga (A.St.-Hil.) A.Juss. ex Mart.

  • Authority

    Kaastra, Roelof C. 1982. A monograph of the Pilocarpinae (Rutaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 33: 1-198. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Rutaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Esenbeckia febrifuga (A.St.-Hil.) A.Juss. ex Mart.

  • Type

    Type. Saint-Hilaire 717, Brazil. Minas Gerais: Nr. Belo Horizonte and Itabira, Bois vierge dans la Capitale des Mines, Feb 1817, fl (lectotype, P-Herb. St.-Hil. Fl. Bras. Mer.; isolectotype, P (" Forets du prov. de R.J., M. Geraes et Espírito Santo" ); fragment, P-type Herb. Baillon (s.n.).

  • Synonyms

    Euodia febrifuga A.St.-Hil., Esenbeckia febrifuga (A.St.-Hil.) A.Juss. ex Mart., Colythrum febrifugum (A.St.-Hil.) Schott, Metrodorea gracilis K.Schum., Esenbeckia febrifuga var. fruticosa Hassl.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub or tree, 0.15-11 m tall with trunk to 10 cm in diam.; branchlets 2-5 mm in diam., often reddish-brown when young, grayish-brown when older, minutely pubescent with spreading hairs 0.1-0.2 mm long, becoming glabrous. Leaves (sub)opposite, 3-foliolate, with stalked leaflets; petiole semiterete, strongly canaliculate, winged or not, 2-6 cm long, the wings 0.2-0.4 mm broad and terminating in a small ear 0.2 mm long, minutely puberulous with hairs 0.2 mm long, a trigonous tubercle 0.2-1 mm long usually present; petiolules to 20 mm long, not sharply separated from base of leaflets; leaflet blades elliptic or slightly obovate, rarely ovate, (4.5-)5.5-16 × (2.0-)2.5-5.5 cm, lateral leaflets somewhat smaller than terminal one and unequal at base, long-attenuate, acuminate at apex, the very tip obtuse or occasionally emarginate, rarely subcaudate, the margin revolute, the blade chartaceous or rarely (sub)coriaceous, dull, rarely sublustrous, much paler beneath, nearly glabrous above but the midvein sparsely minutely puberulous with hairs 0.05-0.3 mm long, sericeous-pubescent below near the proximal part of the midvein with mostly straight hairs to 0.8 mm long, occasionally subglabrous below with the midvein minutely pubescent with appressed hairs 0.05-0.3 mm long, venation camptodromous, in subcoriaceous leaflets prominent beneath, midvein impressed, rarely plane. Inflorescences terminal, erect, (occasionally widely) paniculate, nearly always longer than the leaves, (5-) 13-25 × (4-)8-25 cm, usually loosely but many-flowered, the side-branchlets of first order opposite and subtended by a bract, or the lower ones by a 3-foliolate, rarely simple leaf, the side-branchlets of higher order alternate distally, pilose with spreading hairs 0.05-0.2 mm, distally more dense, glabrescent; bracts except the lower ones persistent, ovate, ca. 0.8-2 × 0.5-1 mm, minutely puberulous with hairs 0.05-0.1 mm long; pedicels to 2 mm long; bractlets subopposite. Flowers usually 4.5-5.5 mm in diam., protandrous; calyx lobes quincuncial, very broadly to depressedly ovate with rounded tip, 0.7-1.5 × 1-2 mm, coriaceous with transparent margin, glabrous above, glabrous or minutely pubescent below with hairs 0.05-0.1 mm long, venation parallellodromous, false midrib present; petals persistent, imbricate, spreading, subovate, elliptic or oblong, 2-2.5 × 1.2-1.6 mm, rounded at tip, semitransparent-papery, whitish when fresh, brown when dried with 0.1-0.3 mm broad, the ochreous margins becoming creamish-white when boiled, glabrous or minutely puberulous below with appressed hairs 0.1 mm, venation camptodromous to somewhat suprabasally actinodromous, occasionally some showing a false midrib; filaments persistent, adnate at base to the disc, subulate, slightly convex abaxially, convex adaxially, 1.4-1.5 mm long and 0.3-0.4 mm thick, glabrous; anthers dorsifixed 1/3 to 2/5 from base, heart-shaped, 0.6-0.7 × 0.5 mm, including a tip 0.05 mm; disc cup-shaped, with 5-10 slight incurvations and a thickened upper margin, 0.5 mm high (as high as the ovary with its protuberances), 0.2-0.3 mm thick at the margin, 1.4-1.6 mm in diam., glabrous; carpels adnate to the disc and connate in their lower half, 0.5 mm high, provided with numerous finger-like, glandular protuberances to 0.2-0.4 mm long and glabrous or rarely beset with some hairs 0.1 mm long; style inserted near base of the carpels, 0.8-0.9 mm long and 0.2-0.3 mm thick at maturity, free for 0.6-0.7 mm, before the shedding of the pollen 0.4-0.6 mm long and free for 0.3 mm, glabrous; stigma capitate, 0.1-0.2(-0.5) × 0.3 mm. Fruits ca. 4-10 per infructescence, subglobose, 10-15 × 10-14 mm (-20 mm when dehisced), glabrous; loculi rounded on the back, muricate with numerous ± hooked prickles ca. 2(-4) mm long which are sharp with a broad base or occasionally 2 with a common base, and beset with glands, dehiscent septicidally to ca. 2 mm above the base and loculicidally to 1/5 or 1/2 from the base; seeds (l-)2 per loculus, superposed, (narrowly) ovoid, 6.5-7.5 × 2.7-2.8 × 2.8-2.9 mm, when 2 truncate at base or ventrally near the base, flattened on the back, beaked at apex, testa dark brown, colliculate with interspaces 0.05 mm in diam.; chalazal area irregular in shape, 1-1.2 mm in diam., often much swollen, dark brown; hilum 0.5 mm broad; granular endosperm 0.1-0.2 mm thick; embryo 1, the cotyledons provided with ears 0.3 mm long, finely punctate, radicle long-projecting, thick-conical, 0.8-1.1 × 0.7-0.8 mm, the plumule 0.1 mm long.

  • Discussion

    Very hard, white wood of first quality for tooth-picks (Duarte & Pereira 1632). The bark resembles Angostura bark, and was imported into Europe about 1813 as "Brazilian China bark." It has a strong and bitter taste (see PHYTOCHEMISTRY).

    This species has much in common with Esenbeckia densiflora, and E. pumila, and resembles vegetatively E. hieronymi. The leaflets are nearly always ± sericeous-pubescent beneath, but occasionally subglabrous. The sericeous hairs are somewhat thicker than those of E. densiflora, forming a less lanate indument of straighter hairs.

    There has been much confusion about who first validly made the combination Esenbeckia febrifuga. Martius did so, but apparently only a few months before G. Don.

    The collection F. C. Hoehne SP 31389 has larger flowers, 6-6.9 mm in diam., with petals 3-3.5 × 1.7 mm and minutely puberulous; calyx minutely pubescent, filaments 1.6-1.8 mm long, fruits subglobose but slightly stellately-lobed and up to 18 × 17 mm with fewer prickles. The leaves are subglabrous, and in the inflorescence some small 1-foliolate leaves are present.

    The collection J. G. Kuhlmann 211 is somewhat more robust than other specimens. The leaflets are up to 19.5 × 6.7 cm and lack sericeous hairs. The inflorescence is not yet fully developed, but the flower organs are 0.1-0.3 mm longer, the petals 2.7-3 × 1.5 mm. Similar to this collection is Dusén 11259 (st).

    Metrodorea gracilis is not different and therefore I reduce it to synonymy of E. febrifuga. Formerly, Cowan transferred M. gracilis to Esenbeckia without having seen the type. His transfer was prompted by a collection which appears to represent E. densiflora.

  • Common Names

    Tres-folhas, Laranjeira do mato, tres-folhas-do-mato, mendanha, grumarim, mamoninha , ivirá-ñetí-(m)í

  • Distribution

    SE and S Brazil (Ceara and Mato Grosso (rare), Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paranã); Paraguay; Argentina (Misiones chiefly near Iguaçu Falls). Common in forests and capoeirão, sometimes on sandy soils. Once reported from the restinga near Rio de Janeiro; alt. to 1100 m. Flowering round the year but mainly Oct-Feb.

    Brazil South America| Ceará Brazil South America| Mato Grosso Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America| São Paulo Brazil South America| Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| Paraná Brazil South America| Amambay Paraguay South America| Paraguay South America| San Pedro Paraguay South America| Caaguazú Paraguay South America| Alto Paraná Paraguay South America| Guairá Paraguay South America| Misiones Argentina South America| Argentina South America|