Persea longipes (Schltdl.) Meisn.
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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 - Tree to 8 m.; branchlets solid at internodes, angular, castaneous to black, glabrous, the bark somewhat aromatic; petioles 1-2.5 cm. long, glabrous, slender; leaf-blades 6-14 cm. long, 4-7 cm. wide, subchartaceous, elliptic to ovate-elliptic, the tips acute to subacuminate, the bases obtuse to cuneate, the margins undulate, the upper surface glabrous and nitid, the lower surface glabrous (sparsely strigulose in the British Honduran specimen), the costa mostly plane above, prominent beneath, the 6-8 pairs of primary nerves divergent at 40-60°, obscure above, not very prominent beneath, the reticulation obscure on both surfaces. Inflorescences axillary, multiflorous, paniculate, each 1/2 to equal the length of its subtending leaf; peduncles 3-5 cm. long, slender, glabrous, castaneous, the branches tawny-strigulose, the rachises 1-2.5 cm. long; pedicels 2 mm. long, densely tawnystrigulose; flowers 5 mm. long; outer perianth-segments 2-2.2 mm. long, 2-2.2 mm. wide, ovate, the tips acute, tawny-strigulose without, glabrous within; inner perianth-segments 4-4.5 mm. long, 2-2.5 mm. wide, elliptic, tawny-strigulose on both surfaces; stamens about 4 mm. long, the filaments 2.5 mm., the anthers 1.5 mm. long, the filaments of stamens of series 1 and II strigose, the anthers oblongovate, quadrilocular; filaments of stamens of series III strigose, the glands subsessile, adnate to the basal 1/3 of the filaments, the anthers oblong, quadrilocular, laterally dehiscent; staminodia of series IV sagittate; gynoecium glabrous, the ovary globose; style 2-2.5 mm. long, slender. Infructescence bearing several fruits, the peduncle slightly thicker than in inflorescence; pedicels 4 mm. long, thickened; perianth reflexed, the tips of the inner segments deciduous; fruits 6-7 mm. long, globose.
Distribution and Ecology - Distribution. Slopes of mountains in Vera Cruz about 200 m. alt., coastal British Honduras at 2 m. alt., and possibly mountains of Costa Rica.
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Discussion
Laurus longipes Schlecht. Linnaea 7: 390. 1832.
Vernacular name. Aguatillo de anis.
Type collection. C. J. W . Schiede 59, Hacienda de Laguna, fide Mez. (holotype B, isotypes B, GP, NY,U) (see discussion).
The similarity of the fruiting perianth of this species to that of P. caerulea may indicate a relationship between these species. There seems, however, to be a closer relationship with both P standleyi and P podadenia, which it resembles more closely. The shorter, broader leaves with undulate margins, the fewer obscure primary nerves, and the broader inflorescences distinguish P. longipes readily from P. standleyi and P. podadenia.
Schlechtendahl worked on the Schiede collection and described Laurus longipes and many other species in the same publication. H e numbered his descriptions and these numbers were then placed on the Schiede herbarium sheets indicating that they are not Schiede's own numbers. A further indication of the origin of these numbers is that when the printer, or Schlechtendahl himself arrived at species, number 59, it Avas mistakenly recorded as 49. There are two sheets at Berlin, one numbered 49 and the other with that figure crossed out and 59 substituted.