Agonandra brasiliensis Miers ex Benth. & Hook.f.

  • Authority

    Hiepko, Paul H. 2000. Opiliaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 82: i-iv + 1-53. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Opiliaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Agonandra brasiliensis Miers ex Benth. & Hook.f.

  • Type

    Type. Brazil. Ceara: Villa do Crato, Oct 1838 ([male] fl), Gardner 1503 (lectotype: K, designated by Hiepko, 1993; isolectotypes: BM, G, NY, P). Syntype: Brazil, Piaui, Aug 1839 ([male] fl), Gardner 2506 (BM, K, NY); the other syntypes belong to Agonandra excelsa Grisebach (Brazil, Ceara, Gardner 1519, and Brazil, Pohl 1721).

  • Synonyms

    Agonandra excelsa Griseb.

  • Description

    Species Description - Small tree, (1-)3-12(-30) m tall; bark thick corky, longitudinally furrowed, pale yellow-grey; young branches minutely papillate to puberulous. Leaves chartaceous to coriaceous, broadly ovate to narrowly elliptic, 4-9(-11) × 2-5(-6) cm, the apex acute to shortly acuminate, the base rounded to attenuate, shiny above, dull below; midrib flat above, prominent beneath; lateral veins 6-8 per side, prominulous above and (less) beneath; petioles (3-)5-20(-30) mm long. Racemes axillary, 1-2(-6 in dr specimens only) per axil, often at defoliated nodes, puberulous; a" racemes 3-6(-7) cm; [female] racemes (1.5-)2-4 cm long; bracts broadly ovate to angular-ovate, ca. 2 mm long, the upper half with ciliate margin; flowers 1 or 3 (rarely 4) per bract (in [female] inflorescences often only in the lower half in groups of 3) with 2 very small bracteoles at the base of the pedicels of the lateral flowers. Pedicels and flowers puberulous; pedicels 1-2.5 mm long in flower, to 14 mm long in fruit. [male] flowers: tepals oblong, acute, 2-3 mm long; stamens 2.5-3.5 mm long; anthers oval, 0.5 mm; disk lobes fleshy, 0.5-0.7 mm long, the apex irregularly toothed; rudimentary pistil cylindric, ca. 1 mm long. 9 flowers: tepals oblong, 0.5 mm long; disk annular, thinly fleshy, up to 0.2 mm high; pistil conical, 0.5 mm long; stigma shallowly 3-lobed. Drupe olive green, 2.3(-3) × 1.7 cm.

  • Discussion

    Agonandra brasiliensis is characterized by its very thick, corky bark which has been described as longitudinally fissured with ca. 4 cm thick horizontal cracks (Richards 6738 from Mato Grosso); the inner bark is orange brown. The species is extremely variable in other vegetative characters, especially in shape, size, and texture of the leaves and in the length of the petioles. The puberulous flowers, however, are rather uniform, and only the apically toothed disk lobes of the male flowers show some variation. But because no clear line can be drawn between the different variants, the names A. lacera and A. macedoi are considered synonyms. The morphology of inflorescences is of some taxonomic importance in Agonandra but is rather variable in A. brasiliensis. Normally the lateral cymes formed in the axil of one bract consist of three pedicellate flowers, but the number of flowers per bract is often reduced to two or one in the upper part of the same inflorescence (especially the [female] inflorescences) of A brasiliensis. In some specimens I have found a fourth flower in the axil of one bract in a median adaxial position (Richards 6583 & 6738). There are, however, several specimens from Colombia and Venezuela which, though they otherwise match A. brasiliensis, consistently have true racemes with only one flower per bract. Because of this clear-cut difference, I have described a separate subspecies racemigera (forming racemes).

  • Distribution

    Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay; in savanna and deciduous forest, sometimes in riparian forest; 0600 m. Flowering throughout the year, but more commonly Aug-Dec; typically fruiting Oct-Dec; in the northern part of the range Mar-Jun.

    Brazil South America| Ceará Brazil South America|