Siparuna croatii S.S.Renner & Hausner

  • Authority

    Renner, Susanne S. & Hausner, Gerlinde. 2005. Siparunaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 95: 1--247 pp. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Monimiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Siparuna croatii S.S.Renner & Hausner

  • Type

    Type: Ecuador. Cotopaxi: 63.4 km SE of Quevedo, 6 km NW of El Corazón, primary forest on steep slopes near a waterfall above Río Angamarca, 1030 m, 4 Apr 1983 (female), Croat 55752 (holotype, QCNE; isotypes, AAU, MO, QCA).

  • Description

    Species Description - Dioecious shrub or treelet, 3-8 m tall, sometimes a straggler with a liana-like habit; twigs quadrangular, deeply sulcate, and khaki-colored due to a dense indumentum of minute stellate hairs. Leaves opposite; petioles 4-5 cm long; lamina drying brownish to olive-green, chartaceous, broadly elliptic, 18-42 X 10-20 cm, the base obtuse or subacute, the apex shortly apiculate, the lower surface with minute (0.1-0.2 mm in diam.) appressed stellate hairs, the upper surface scantily stellate-pubescent to glabrescent and rather smooth, with (15-)22-24 pairs of secondary veins, the secondary and tertiary veins distinctly prominulous and yellow below, the margin inconspicuously denticulate. Cymes axillary and ample, 4-8 cm long, with minute stellate yellowish khaki hairs, usually with 40-60 flowers. Fresh flowers greenish; male floral cup urceolate to globose with minute stellate hairs, 1.9-2.1 mm in diam., 1.8-2.1 mm high, the floral roof moderately raised, glabrous and drying dark brown, the 4-5 tepals obtusely triangular and 0.4-0.6 mm long; stamens 6, fleshy and containing white globules (large oil cells), the 4 outer ones slightly exserted at anthesis; female floral cup of the same size and shape as the male cups but the floral roof raised to a cylindrical bulge separated by a distinct groove from a second innermost tube sheathing the styles; styles 5-7, often fused to a column. Fresh fruiting receptacles fleshy and red, sometimes with minute tubercles (1 mm long); mature fruiting receptacles unknown.

  • Discussion

    The leaves boiled in water are used to prepare a tea against stomach aches and to alleviate pain after childbirth {Steyermark 52816).

    Siparuna croatii is characterized by minutely tuberculate receptacles and an extremely fine, dense indumentum of appressed stellate hairs. The only specimen so far collected in Colombia, Callejas et al 8005, has male flowers that closely resembles the three Ecuadorean collections in spite of the striking disjunction between the Ecuadorean and Colombian occurrences.

    In the Flora of Ecuador (Renner and Hausner, 1997), we included several collections from Carchi (Hoover et al. 2570, Hoover et al. 2900, Hoover et al 3314 (see Fl. Ec., Plate 6b); Hoover et al. 3568; P Méndez et al. 365) under this name. These collections lack the sulcate branchlets and dense fine indumentum typical of Siparuna croatii and their flowers are larger than those of S. croatii. Once more material of this entity becomes available, it may warrant taxonomic recognition. (In the List of Exsiccatae, this material is cited as “S. croatii or sp. nov.”)

  • Distribution

    Siparuna croatii occurs in the eastern Andes in Ecuador and Colombia where it grows in secondary scrub at elevations of 1000-1500 m.

    Antioquia Colombia South America| Azuay Ecuador South America| Cotopaxi Ecuador South America|