Zygia inaequalis (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Pittier
-
Authors
Rupert C. Barneby
-
Authority
Barneby, Rupert C. & Grimes, James W. 1997. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: A generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part II.
, , and . Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74: 1-149. -
Family
Mimosaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Type
"Habitat ad Orinocum." — Holotypus, a single lf + detached fls., B-WILLD 19042, seen in microfiche! = F Neg. 1200', isotypus, lf only, P-HBK!. —Mimosa inaequalis (Willdenow) Poiret, Encycl. Suppl. 1: 44. 1810. — Pithecolobium inaequale (Willdenow) Bentham
-
Synonyms
Inga inaequalis Willd. ex Humb. & Bonpl., Mimosa inaequalis (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Poir., Feuilleea inaequalis (Willd. ex Humb. & Bonpl.) Kuntze
-
Description
Species Description - Macrophyllidious cauliflorous trees and treelets, fertile when (2-)3-12(-20) m tall, with trunk potentially to 2 dm dbh but commonly <1 dm, variably pubescent, the nascent stems, lf-stks and inflorescence-axes commonly sordid-puberulent, sometimes densely so, the lfts often glabrous or glabrous except for ventrally puberulent midrib, or ciliolate on veins of hypophyllum, or (in central Amazonian Brazil = Zygia longiramosa) rather densely pilosulous on one or both faces, the chartaceous lfts moderately bicolored, most often dark brown-olivaceous and lustrous above, a little paler dull beneath (but sometimes sub-concolorous), the inflorescence composed of usually dense but sometimes incipiently spiciform capitula of fragrant, whitish or pinkish fls fasciculate on knots of trunk and annotinous branchlets, the filament-tassel almost always pink or carmine. Stipules deltate, triangular, or lanceolate, most easily seen on nascent terminal shoots, there commonly striately 3-8-nerved, either deciduous or persistent, when persistent becoming basally thickened and nerveless externally. Lf-formula i/2½-4½, the well-developed pinnae mostly 5-9-foliolate, the small proximal posterior lft occasionally wanting; lf-stks including pulvinus 2-10(-12) x 1.3—3.5(—7) mm, sometimes nearly as wide as long; nectary at tip of lf-stks sessile, in outline round or obtusely rhombic, plane or shallowly cupular thick-rimmed, 1.2-3.7 mm diam, a smaller but otherwise similar nectary between 1-2 distal or between all lft-pairs; rachises of the one pinna-pair widely divergent, straight or forwardly incurved, that of the longer pinnae 5-14(-22) cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 2-5.5(-8) cm; lft-pulvinules in dorsal view (1.5-)2-4(-4.5) mm; lft-blades elliptic, ovate-, or obovate-elliptic from inequilaterally cuneate or (when broad) shallowly semicordate base, obtuse or short-acuminate, the distal pair (7—)8—16(—18) x 2.5-8(-9) cm, 1.9-3.2 times as long as wide; venation pinnate, the slightly excentric, straight or gently incurved midrib giving rise on each side to (3-)4-7(-8) major (and few intercalary) secondary nerves, the first 1-2 on posterior side of midrib variable in strength, often produced to or beyond midblade, sometimes shorter, all sharply prominulous beneath, either immersed or depressed above, the tertiary and reticular venules usually faint, sometimes prominulous on upper face. Peduncles ordinarily several per fascicle, 1—8(—12) mm, sometimes subtended by a rudimentary lf-stk with nectary; capitula 7—19-fld, the receptacle 1-5(-10) mm; bracts <1 mm, persistent; perianth either glabrous, or glabrous except for orifice of calyx and tips of corolla-lobes, or finely thinly brownish-puberulent overall, whitish or pink-tinged fading brown, the calyx weakly 5- or 10- ribbed, the corolla-tube striate; calyx (1.4-)2-4.3 x (0.9-) 1.2-1.6 mm, at least 2 mm long in the larger fls of any plant; corolla (5.2-)6—9.5(-10) mm, the ovate lobes 0.9-2.1 mm; androecium (20-)30-56-merous, (17—)22—31 mm, the tube 8.5-11.5 mm, exserted 1-4 mm; nectarial disc 0.25-0.45 mm. Pods almost always solitary, sessile or nearly so, highly diverse in length, in number of seeds, and in curvature independent of length, when well fertilized broad-linear in profile, either straight, or retrofalcate, or evenly recurved into a ring (exceptionally also twisted), (1.5-) 1.8-2.6(-3) cm wide but varying from 3-4.5 cm long and 1-2-seeded to 18(—25) cm long and to 18-seeded, the minutely, often densely puberulent or exceptionally (Z. foreroi) velvety-tomentulose valves at first planocompressed becoming low-convex over mature seeds, rigidly lignescent in ripening, the exocarp dull brown, rugulose or tumulose, sometimes transversely splitting to reveal the paler brown fibrous mesocarp, this at least 1 mm thick at middle of valves; dehiscence tardy, through the seminiferous suture, the valves at first narrowly gaping, ultimately explanate; seeds (few seen fully ripe) transverse, not imbricate, bluntly rhombic in broad view and ±16-22 mm diam, the papery brown testa finely wrinkled, pleurogram 0.
Distribution and Ecology - In seasonally flooded riverine forest and riverbanks near the floodline, 0-200 m, widely interruptedly dispersed in tropical South America: Orinoco and Amazon basins in E Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and N Bolivia, thence extending into interior of the Guianas, and W through the Maracaibo basin in Venezuela to the lower Magdalena, Sucio, and San Juan valleys in N Colombia, there extending S along the Pacific coast to Valle. — Map 28. — Flowering nearly year-round, but most profusely at high water.
-
Discussion
Zygia inaequalis, variable in pubescence and some other features, seemingly consists of numerous more or less localized races, the most notable being one with leaves softly pilosulous dorsally (= Z. longi- ramosa of centr. and S-centr. Brazil and adj. Bolivia).
Pithecellobium foreroi, from Chocó, was recognized by Barbosa as most closely related to P. inaequale but notable for smaller calyx (2-2.5 mm) and densely silky-tomentose pod 3-4 cm wide at maturity. We found in the whole range of Z. inaequalis calyces varying from 2 to 4.3 mm, and the fruit of the isotype of P. foreroi is at most 21 mm wide. Rico (1991) accepted Z. foreroi as an independent species but in 1992 annotated Fuchs & Zanella 22084 from Río Baudó (NY), which has the densely brown-tomentose fruit of P. foreroi, as Z. inaequalis.
-
Common Names
carbón, bushillo shimbillo, ingá-rana, chipero, pichindé
-
Distribution
Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Bolivia South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Guyana South America|