Persea americana var. nubigena (L.O.Williams) Kopp
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Authority
Kopp, Lucille E. 1966. A tasonomic revision of the genus Persea in the Western Hemisphere (Perseae-Lauraceae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 14: 1-117.
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Family
Lauraceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Trees to 40 m. tall; brandilets sparsely tomentellous, not aromatic; petioles slender, stiongly canaliculate, glabrous to sparsely tomentellous; leaf-blades 11-21 cm. long, 4—13 cm. wide, subchartaceous. elliptic to subrotund. the tips acuminate. the bases acute to obtuse, the upper siuface nitid, finely reticidate. the lower surface pilose, pruinose. occasionally glaucous, die costa impressed above, the 6—9 pairs of primary nerves impressed above (in mature leaves). prominent beneath, divergent at 30-50 (-60°) . the tertiary nerves frequendy impressed above, prominent beneadi. the reticulation prominulous on both surfaces.
Distribution and Ecology - Distribution. In doud forests of Guatemala and Honduras at 1500-2800 m.
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Discussion
Persea nubigena L. O. \Villiaras. Ceiba 1: 55. 1950.
Persea gigantea L. O. 'Williams, Ceiba 4: 89. 1953.
Vernaciilar names. Aguacate de monte: aguacate de montana.
Type collection. L. O. Williams & A. Molina 16833, Dept. Chimaltenango, Cerro Chichoy near Chichoy. " Flowers pale greenish yellow. Tree 20 m. in cloud forest along road." All. 2800 m. (holotype EAP. isotype F) .
Williams described the Guatemalan and the Honduran material as different species, but here they are considered to be convarietal. T h e leaves of all Guatemalan representatives of the species are elliptic, and those of the Honduran representatives range from elliptic to rotund. There is no gradual change from narrow- to broad-leaved forms which can be geographically correlated. All of the Honduran collections are from a small area, and many branchlets bear mature leaves of the narrow, intermediate, and broad forms. T h e narrow leaves have the same characteristics as the collections from Guatemala and cannot be separated from them. The apparent disjunction in distribution is a small one and is probably due to limited collection in the intervening areas.
This variety links P. americana var. americana with P- floccosa. T h e primary nerves which are more narrowly divergent from the costa and the presence of pubescence on the leaves distinguish it from P. steyermarkii; the pilose pubescence and smaller flowers separate it from P. floccosa. T h e coarser texture of the leaves of var. nubigena, due to more prominent reticulation and impressed nerves on the upper leaf-surface, make it readily distinguishable from var. americana.