Buchenavia megalophylla Van Heurck & Müll.Arg.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Combretaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Buchenavia megalophylla Van Heurck & Müll.Arg.

  • Type

    Type. Guyana. Demerara: In herb. Van Heurck (holotype, AWH n.v.). Specimens (s.n.) coll. Parker, 1821-1824, and labeled [wrongly] Pamea guianensis Aubl. are almost certainly duplicates (probable isotypes, CGE, G, K; photographs, F, NY, US). Van Heurck & Muller Argoviensis (1871, p. 212) stated that the type was sent as Pamea guianensis to Mlle. H. Reichenbach in Europe, probably from Demerara.

  • Synonyms

    Pamea guianensis Aubl.

  • Description

    Species Description - Tree 2.5-45 m. Leaves 14-36 × 5-14 cm, chartaceous, obovate to oblanceolate, rounded and apiculate to shortly and abruptly acuminate or cuspidate at apex, narrowly cuneate and scarcely decurrent at base, glabrous except often puberulous on midvein and secondary veins especially abaxially; domatia absent or shallow except for dense hair-tufts. Venation as in B. macrophylla. Petiole 1.2-2.3 cm, puberulous, biglandular. Inflorescences 9-16 cm, spicate; peduncle 2-3 cm, densely pubescent; rhachis 7-13 cm, densely pubescent. Flowers 3-4.5 mm; lower hypanthium 2-3 mm, densely pubescent on ovary-bearing part, with less pubescent rather thick neck much less than half total length; upper hypanthium 1-2 × 2.5-4mm, glabrous or nearly so. Fruits 1.8-4.7 × l-1.4 cm, elliptic in side view, strongly 5-ridged, abruptly narrowed to usually strongly curved beak 1-2 cm at apex, rounded or obtuse and abruptly narrowed to pseudostipe 0.2-0.7 cm at base, densely fulvous-tomentellous. Reproductive biology. Flowering August to November; fruiting February to July. Flowers red.

  • Discussion

    Illustrations. Figs. 112s, ss (fr), 129a (If).

    Van Heurck and Muller Argoviensis (1871) described the inflorescence as capitate, but they must have had broken material at their disposal. The fruits of this species are quite unmistakable, but flowering or sterile material is impossible to distinguish with certainty from some specimens of B. reticulata or B. macrophylla. The leaves of B. macrophylla are much more variable than those of B. megalophylla, often being smaller and often with rather gradually tapered apices, but they can mimic the very large abruptly narrowed leaves of the latter. These two species are possibly allopatric. All undoubted (i.e., fruiting) material of B. megalophylla comes from Guyana, but B. macrophylla is not known from Guyana or Suriname, although it definitely occurs in French Guiana. There is flowering material probably referable to B. megalophylla from Suriname and French Guiana. Sterile material from French Guiana will remain undetermined, although most of it closely resembles typical B. megalophylla, with broadly “shouldered” leaves.

  • Common Names

    Alimi huhu, kwatabobi, ingitabaka

  • Distribution

    Lowland riverine forests on sand or alluvium, at least seasonally inundated, at 5-100 m. Endemic to the Guianas.

    Inini French Guiana South America| Essequibo Guyana South America| Marowijne Suriname South America| French Guiana South America|