Agonandra excelsa Griseb.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Opiliaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Agonandra excelsa Griseb.

  • Type

    Type. Argentina. Salta: Near Rosario, at Bermejo river, Laguna del Palmar, 30 Aug 1873, ([male] fl), Lorentz & Hieronymus 653 (lectotype: GOET, here designated; isolectotype: B).

  • Synonyms

    Agonandra engleri Hoehne, Agonandra spegazzini Molfino

  • Description

    Species Description - Small tree or shrub, 3-11(-15) m tall, usually glabrous; young branches sometimes puberulous; trunk to 40 cm diam.; bark rough and black. Leaves chartaceous to coriaceous, elliptic to ovate, obovate or more or less orbicular, 3-7(-9) × (l-)2-4(-5) cm, the apex obtuse and mucronulate, sometimes retuse or acute, the base cuneate; midrib flat above, prominent beneath; lateral veins 5-8 per side, curved-ascending, usually prominulous on both sides; tertiary venation dense, near to the midrib more or less parallel to the lateral veins, usually prominulous on both surfaces; petioles often puberulous, 2-5 mm long. Racemes axillary (rarely terminal), 1-3(-4) per axil; [male] and [female] racemes (2-)3-4 cm long; rachis puberulous to minutely papillate, rarely more or less glabrous; 1 flower per bract; bracts very broadly angular-ovate, 0.5 mm long, 0.7 mm broad, ciliolate, with 2 minute bracteoles at the base of the pedicel. Pedicels and flowers puberulous or minutely papillate; pedicels 1-2 mm long in flower, very short (1-2 mm long) and distinctly thicker toward apex (obconical) in fruit, [male] flowers: tepals oblong, acute, ca. 1.5 mm long; stamens 2.5 mm long; anthers oval, 0.5 mm long; disk lobes 0.5 mm long, in the lower half united, free lobes ± acute; rudimentary pistil thinly cylindric with capitate stigma, slightly longer than the disk lobes. [female] flowers: tepals 1 mm long; disk annular, thinly fleshy, to 0.3 mm high; pistil conical to barrel-shaped, 1 mm long; stigma broad, irregularly cushion-shaped. Drupe yellowish orange, 2 × 1.5 cm.

  • Discussion

    Fruits eaten by game (Paraguay, Brunner 1395).

    Agonandra excelsa is characterized by its inflorescences (only one flower per bract), the partly fused disk of cf flowers, and the short, distinctly obconical pedicels of the relatively small fruits. Form, size, and texture of the leaves vary considerably, as does the indumentum of young branches and inflorescences. In the central part of the range of the species, the leaves are broadly elliptic, ovate, or obovate and sometimes more or less orbicular. In the eastern (type of A. engleri) and the southeastern part of the range (specimens from SE Brazil), the leaves are often narrowly elliptic with a mucronulate apex, and the indumentum of the inflorescences is mostly reduced to minute papillae. In the northwestern part of the range (Ecuador and Peru), the leaves tend to be smaller and narrowly elliptic with an acute apex (Fig. 20). These are all intergrading characters, and it is impossible to find sharp boundaries for the definition of infraspecific taxa.

  • Common Names

    naranjo de cerro, pinto de cerro, palo cremoso, bocosi, caona, guapoo, pata, sombra de toro

  • Distribution

    SW Ecuador, NW Peru, E and S Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and N Argentina; in riparian or periodically flooded forest, in subtropical semideciduous or deciduous forest, and on pasture land; 0-1000 m, rarely to 1800 m. Flowering mostly (Mar-)Jul-Oct; fruiting Sep-Jan.

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