Terminalia quintalata Maguire

  • Authority

    Stace, C. A. & Alwan, A.-R A. 2010. Combretaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 107: 1-369. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Combretaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Terminalia quintalata Maguire

  • Type

    Type. Guyana. Essequibo: Potaro River gorge, below Amatuk portage, May 1944 (fr), Maguire & Fanshawe 23551 (holotype, NY; isotypes, BM, BR, F, FDG, G, K, MO, P, U, US). Guyana. Essequibo: Kaieteur plateau, Potaro River gorge, May 1944 (fl), Maguire & Fanshawe 23459 (paratypes, A/GH, BM, K, NY, P, U). Guyana. Essequibo: Kaieteur plateau, Potaro River gorge, Maguire & Fanshawe 23313 (paratype, NY).

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub or tree 0.5-30 m. Leaves to 4-22 × 2-11.5 cm, strongly coriaceous, obovate or sometimes oblong-obovate or narrowly so, rounded or retuse or sometimes obtuse at apex, attenuate-cuneate at base, glabrous except sometimes sparsely pubescent on midvein abaxially; domatia absent. Venation brochidodromous; midvein stout, flattened, scarcely prominent; secondary veins 6-12 pairs, moderately spaced to distant, arising at widely acute to almost right angles, slightly curved to recurved, often forked and joining a well-marked intramarginal vein, scarcely or not prominent; intersecondary veins often present, often almost as evident as secondaries; tertiary veins inconspicuous, randomly reticulate; higher order veins indistinct; areolation imperfect or incomplete, not prominent. Petiole 0.3-1.5 cm, glabrous to sparsely pubescent, eglandular or biglandular at junction with leaf. Inflorescences 7-15(-18) cm, simple, andromonoecious, sometimes bisexual and sometimes male flowers predominating, the males dispersed among the bisexuals; peduncle 4-7.5 cm, glabrous to pubescent; rhachis 3-10(-12) cm, glabrous to pubescent. Flowers (tetramerous to) pentamerous, the bisexual ones 5-10.5 × 3.5-5.5 mm, the male ones 3-5 × 3.5-5.5 mm; lower hypanthium 2-6.5 mm in bisexual flowers, pedicel-like and 1-3 mm in male flowers, glabrous to densely appressed-pubescent; upper hypanthium 1.5-3 mm, campanulate to cupuliform, glabrous to appressed-pubescent outside, always densely pubescent inside; calyx lobes 0.8-1.8 mm, glabrous to appressed-pubescent, suberect to recurved; disk villous to densely so; stamens 3-6.5 mm; style 3.5-9.5 mm, glabrous or very sparsely pubescent near base. Fruits numerous, disposed along whole length of rhachis, (0.6-)0.8-1.2(-1.5) × 0.5-1 (-1.2) cm, actinomorphic, broadly elliptic in side view, rounded to truncate at base and apex, glabrous to sparsely pubescent; wings (4-)5, flexible, equal, 0.2-0.6 cm wide, rounded laterally; body 0.2-0.35 cm wide. Reproductive biology. Flowers slightly fragrant, the bisexual ones clearly protogynous. Flowers variously described as white, cream-colored, greenish white, or green; ovary and stamens chestnut; upper hypanthium and style yellow; ovary grey; upper hypanthium cream-colored; filaments white with yellow to pink anthers; probably varying with age. Flowering September to June; fruiting October to May.

  • Discussion

    Illustrations. Figs. 10e, f (epidermis), 92g (fr), 101a (If). Stace & Alwan (1998), p. 349.

    Terminalia quintalata differs from the other two species of the section in its larger, broader leaves, longer rhachis, and mostly longer than wide fruits, and from T. guaiquinimae in its mostly 5-merous flowers and fruits. The inflorescences and fruits of T. quintalata vary from glabrous to densely pubescent, but the leaves are always completely or nearly glabrous (cf. T. guaiquinimae). Maguire 33094 is sterile but large-leaved and clearly T. quintalata; it was determined as T. quintalata by Maguire in 1957 (NY), but was cited as a paratype of T. guaiquinimae by Maguire and Exell (1958).

  • Common Names

    Vonta-yek, fukadi

  • Distribution

    In a wide range of habitats in a small area. Seasonally dry to wet riverine forests, rocky upland scrub, dwarf (4-6 m) forest, cerrado, savannas at 4-1450 m, but usually over 400 m. Headwaters of Rivers Orinoco, Essequibo and Amazon in Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil, all north of the Equator except one outlier in Rondonia, Brazil, at ca. 8° S.

    Amazonas Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America| Essequibo Guyana South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America|