Agonandra goldbergiana Hiepko

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Opiliaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Agonandra goldbergiana Hiepko

  • Type

    Type. Guatemala. Izabal: Cadenas, in high forest bordering Rio Sarstun, 19 Mar 1962 ([male] fl), Contreras 6791 (holotype: LL; isotypes: LL, NY).

  • Synonyms

    Izabalaea excelsa Lundell, Agonandra excelsa Griseb.

  • Description

    Species Description - Tree, to 50 m tall and 1 m diam.; young branches minutely papillate. Leaves chartaceous to coriaceous, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, 7-10(-12) × 2-4.5 cm, the apex obtuse to acute, the base attenuate; midrib flat above, prominent beneath; lateral veins 5-7 per side, very slender and inconspicuous, hardly prominulous on both sides; petiole 2-5 mm long, minutely papillate at base adaxially. Racemes axillary, 1-3 per axil, mostly on defoliated nodes; rachis densely papillate; [male] racemes 12.5 cm; [female] racemes 2-2.5 cm long; bracts depressed-orbicular, distinctly peltate, ca. 3 mm wide, upper half ciliolate; flowers usually 3 per bract, without bracteoles at the base of the pedicels of the lateral flowers. Pedicels papillate like the rachis; flowers glabrous; pedicels 2-2.5 mm long in flower, 7-11 mm long in fruit, [male] flowers: tepals oblong, acute, 2-2.5 mm long; stamens 4 mm long; anthers oval, 0.5 mm long; disk lobes thinly fleshy, 1-1.5 mm long, with short, more or less papillate hairs, the apex extrorsely irregularly toothed and fissured; rudimentary pistil cylindric, ca. 1 mm long. [female] flowers: tepals 1 mm long; disk annular, thinly fleshy, 0.3 mm high; pistil conical, 1 mm long; stigma cushion-shaped. Drupe (not yet ripe) 2.5 × 1.7 cm.

  • Discussion

    Since the combination Agonandra excelsa Grisebach (1879) exists, it is not possible to maintain Lundell's epithet excelsa for this species. The substitute name acknowledges Aaron Goldberg, who was the first to correctly interpret the type specimen at NY as an Agonandra. Had he failed to do so, the species might have remained long hidden among the Nyctaginaceae to which it was assigned by Lundell. One reason for Lundell’s placing the species in the tribe Pisonieae of that family was obviously the erroneous assumption of a basal fusion of the perianth ("perianthium subcampanulatum,... tubus brevis").

    The morphology of inflorescences, flowers, and fruits clearly resembles that of other Agonandra species. The pollen shows also characters typical for Agonandra (Lobreau-Callen, pers. comm.). Agonandra goldbergiana shows some similarities with A. silvatica, especially with regard to the papillate surface of the rachis of the racemes, but the inflorescences are much shorter than those of A. silvatica. The most definite difference between the [male] flowers of both species appears to be in the papillate indumentum and the extrorsely toothed and fissured apex of the disk lobes of A. goldbergiana (Fig. 5E).

    Because there are many threats to the vegetation and flora of the Peten, A. goldbergiana is apparently an endangered species.

  • Distribution

    E Guatemala, Izabal and Peten; in tall (riparian) forest. Flowering Mar; fruiting Apr.

    Guatemala Central America| Petén Guatemala Central America|