Abarema obovalis (A.Rich.) Barneby & J.W.Grimes
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Authors
Rupert C. Barneby
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Authority
Barneby, Rupert C. & Grimes, James W. 1996. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: a generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part I. Abarema, Albizia, and allies. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74: 1-292.
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Family
Mimosaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
"Crescit in Vuelta de Abajo, ubi detexit clar. don José María Valenzuela." — Holotypus, P(herb. richard.), 2 sheets!
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Synonyms
Inga obovalis A.Rich., Calliandra revoluta Griseb., , , Jupunba obovalis (A.Rich.) Britton & Rose, , Jupunba truncata Britton & Rose, , Jupunba pinetorum Britton & Rose
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Description
Species Description - Macrophyllidious trees attaining 6-15 m but sometimes fertile at 2 m and upward, the very young branchlets and lf-stks densely puberulent with bronze hairs ±0.1 mm but only the axillary buds remaining so, the broad, stiffly chartaceous lfts conspicuously bicolored, above dark lustrous green, brunnescent when dry except for contrasting pallid venation and fully glabrous, beneath pallid and often thinly minutely appressed-puberulent, the very short or subumbellate racemes of white (when dried golden- strigulose) fls arising singly or paired from the axil of coeval lvs, immersed in foliage. Stipules 0, even in lf- vernation. Lf-formula i—ii(—iii)/3—5(—6), lfts (12—) 16— 56 per If; lf-stks stout (0.7-)l-8 cm, the true petiole 0.7-3.2 cm, the longer (or single) interpinnal segment 1.2-3.5 cm; lf-nectaries variable in development, the first situated immediately below insertion of proximal pinna-pair, sessile, most often grossly verruciform, round or vertically elongated 2-8 x (1.5-)2-4 mm, when dry nigrescent, finely wrinkled and with or without a dimple or small pore near or below middle, but sometimes obscure and sunken in the epidermis, those between further pinna-pairs smaller or 0, those at tip of pinna-rachises often lacking; pinnae usually accrescent distally, the rachis of distal (or only) pair (4—)5—11 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 12-25(-32) mm; lft-pulvinules in dorsal view 1.3-2.6 x 0.9—1.8 mm; lfts usually much accrescent distally, the furthest pair subsymmetrically, the lateral ones inequilaterally obovate (broad-oblanceolate), wider on anterior side but not trapeziform-angulate, all at base broad-cuneate or flabellate, at apex broadly obtuse muticous or shallowly emarginate, the largest 4-6.5 x (2.8-)3-5(-5.5) cm, (l.l-)1.2-2.8(-3.2) times as long as wide, all when old incipiently bullate and marginally revolute; the midrib gently curved forward, the secondary veins ascending at ±45° and brochidodrome well within the margin, all these together with random tertiary venules finely prominulous on both faces but more conspicuous by pallid coloration above. Peduncles (3-)4-8 cm; racemes 7-20-fld, subcorymbosely hemispherical at full anthesis, the fls all nearly equiform but the pedicels progressively shorter upward, the terminal fl(s) sometimes sessile and a trifle larger but their androecium not differentiated; bracts very quickly caducous, none seen; pedicels of lower fls 3-6 mm; calyx microscopically puberulent or glabrate, at anthesis (3-)3.5-5 mm, in young bud pyriform, the orifice then truncate, minutely 5(-6)-toothed, the whole at full anthesis turbinate-campanulate, the thick-textured tube 2.7-3.3 x 2.3-3 mm, the teeth (often of different lengths) either ovate-deltate or depressed-deltate and subtruncate-apiculate 0.3-0.4 mm, rarely the teeth all adherent and the orifice then truncate and minutely 5-apiculate; corolla 6.5-10 mm, the tube externally glabrate, the lanceolate, externally silky-puberulent, apically cucullate lobes 2.6-5 mm; androecium (33-)36-60-merous, to 2.5-3.4 cm, the stemonozone ±1.5-2.5 mm, the white filaments united into a tube 3-5.5 mm; ovary densely puberulent, truncate at apex; style exserted from longer stamens, at apex 0.1-0.2 mm diam. Pods 1-4 per capitulum, subsessile, in profile broad-linear, evenly recurved through ±3/4 to nearly a full circle, framed by thickened sutures, 3.5-6.5 x 0.9-1.3 cm, the exterior (seminiferous) suture not or very shallowly undulate-impressed between the 8-10 seeds, the valves stiffly coriaceous, the thin exocarp at first dusky and venulose, becoming light brown and roughened, strongly umbonate over each seed, the pitchlike mesocarp ±0.5 mm and the crustaceous white endocarp ±0.2 mm thick, internally deep-crimson and papillate between the smooth seed-cavities; dehiscence of Abarema; funicles ligulate; seeds plump, firm and shiny, in broad view 4.4-5.6 x 3.7-5 mm, the thin translucent testa closely investing the hard indigo-blue embryo, this most visible as a blue patch on each face of seed above its middle, pleurogram delicately incised, complete, 3-3.6 x 2-2.7 mm.
Distribution and Ecology - In woods and thickets, sometimes along streams, in Cuba from near sea level on Isla de la Juventud up to 900 (in Camaguey 1100) m, in Hispaniola at 250-720 m, scattered in Cuba from Pinar del Río and Isla de la Juventud (de los Pinos) to upland Oriente, in Hispaniola localized on Massif de la Hotte in Dépt. Sud, Haiti, and in the central highlands of prov. La Vega in Dominican Republic. — Map 29. — Fl. X-XI, II—VIII, perhaps randomly throughout the year.
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Discussion
In the flora of Cuba and Hispaniola A. obovalis is instantly identified by low leaf-formula and proportionately ample leaflets to 4-6.5 cm long. Its calyx is spathiform in vernation, the teeth developing only as the membranous margin is split by the swelling corolla and androecium. The 5, rarely 6 teeth, marked only by minute apiculations in vernation, may become simply low-deltate-ovate, or by vertical split at the sinus depressed-deltate and apiculate, and may be of uniform size or appear united in pairs, due to imperfect separation. The typus of Pithecolobium truncatum is a rare instance of the teeth failing to separate. No further example is known to us from Oriente, but we have one from Isla de los Pinos, where the normal form is prevalent. The staminal column varies from 3 to 5.5 mm in length, including the stemonozone. That of P. pinetorum is at the upper extreme of the observed range of variation, but the typus of this species, except that it is stressed by pervasive insect damage, is not in any other way remarkable.
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Common Names
roble blanco
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Distribution
Cuba South America| La Vega Dominican Republic South America| Sud Haiti South America|