NEOCALYPTROCALYX MORII (CAPPARACEAE), A NEW SPECIES FROM CENTRAL FRENCH GUIANA

2008·3 MB·English

by  Xavier Cornejo

NEOCALYPTROCALYXMORII
(CAPPARACEAE),
NEW
A FROM CENTRAL FRENCH
GUIANA
SPECIES
Cornejo Hugh
Xavier
H.
litis
New
The York Botanical Garden Department of Botany
200th and
St. KazimiroffAve. University of Wisconsin
0458-5
k 126, U.S.A. 430 Lincoln Drive
1
Madison, Wisconsin 53706,
U.S.A.
Neocalyptrocalyx Hutch. (1967) is a neotropical genus of Capparaceae that comprises seven species, ranging
from Amazonian
the lowlands of Brazil and Ecuador to the Guianas and eastern Venezuela. The genus was
&
recently resurrected and taxonomical
its limits clarified (Cornejo litis 2008). While studying the species
we became
of Neocalyptrocalyx, aware that several collections from French Guiana, provisionally
identified
&
and
cited as Capparis leprieurii Briq. (litis et al. 1996: 378; litis Mori in Mori et al. [eds.], 2002, Fig. 66,
New
used by
pi. 38:e; also litis as a Year's card, widely distributed in 1997), consistently by having
differ
flowers with 8(to stamens, ovoid rather than oblongoid and new
9) ovaries, alternate leaves, representing a
species herewith described.
&
Neocalyptrocalyx morii Cornejo FRENCH
litis, sp. nov. (Fig. 1). Type: GUIANA: Saul and Sentier Botanique,
vicinity,
m
Tree 45 trunk cm
to tall, cylindric to base but not buttressed, sometimes angled, to 75 dbh, the outer
bark smooth and brown
light to light grayish-brown, the inner bark cream or yellow, slash yellow, emitting
aroma when
Leaves
fetid cut; lepidote-stellate throughout. cm; mature
alternate; petioles l-1.7(-2.3) blades
10-23
elliptic to oblong-elliptic or narrowly-obovate, x 4-9(-ll) cm, the base inconspicuously subcordate
broadly margin
to obtuse, the entire to repand, the apex acuminate, coriaceous chartaceous
(in vivo),
(in
sicco), covered by lepidote-stellate hairs on both surfaces, glabrescent; and 9 to 13 main lateral veins on
each side of the midrib. Inflorescences very short corymbose racemes on peduncles to 2 cm long, some-
times apparently subfasciculate due to the absence of a peduncle, terminal, axillary and ramiflorous;
floral
mm,
bracts linear, 1-2.5 very soon deciduous; flower buds subspherical widely nearly
to elliptic to anthesis;
mm.
pedicels 10-27 Flowers nocturnal, the outer sepals widely ovate to suborbicular, 7-15 x 7-9 mm,
green
to gray-green, entirely covering the flowerbud until anthesis, becoming widely divergent
to reflexed
mm;
at anthesis, the inner pair of sepals ligulate-oblanceolate, ca. 6-10 x 2 petals obovate, 12-20 x 10-12
mm,
white, with cuneate base, wavy margin and rounded at the apex; stamens 8(-9), with filaments 13-25
mm,
cream
creamy-white
to (in vivo), inserted in a single row, with hyaline uniseriate trichomes the base,
at
mm; mm,
the anthers gynophore 13-25 cream
ca. 2 to creamy-white (in vivo), the ovary ovoid, 2-3 x 2-3
Bot
Res. Texas
J. Inst. 2(2):
Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 2(2)
Lateral view of flower with two petals and four stamens removed (left), median section off:
F.
Lateral (far left) and abaxial (near left) views of anthers. H. Lateral
litis & Mori in Mori et al. [eds.] 2002: 1 87, fig. 66. The ovaries and ni
FRENCH
GUIANA.
Elie
St.
:
Mier&Prevost 4084 (CAY
[not:
&
2003
Prevost Sabatier
(fl), 47'.
Ser
:y:
tree 460-3, 3°37'N 53°12'W, 250-350 m, 12 Sep 1994 Mori 23897 (NY).
(st), et al.
number
In Neocalyptrocalyx the of stamens is one of the helpful characters to differentiate species. Thus,
Neocalyptrocalyx nectareus, N. leprieurii and N. grandipetala have flowers with 16 to 18 stamens, N.
eichleri-
anus has flowers with 30 to 37 stamens, these four species have the stamens inserted in two rows. However,
Neocalyptrocalyx tnorii has 8(to 9) stamens inserted in a single row. Neocalyptrocalyx maroniensis has flowers
with 10 to 20 stamens inserted in one to two rows, but the flowers of the latter species are distinctively
smaller. It is interesting to note that eight stamens is one of the characters for several well-defined species
among
Capparaceae with indumenta
the neotropical variously stellate Capparicordis crotonoides [Kunth]
(e.g.
& & &
litis Cornejo, Quadrella lundellii [Standi] litis Cornejo, Q. morenoi Cornejo litis, and Q. steyermarkii
&
A
second among
[Standi.] litis Cornejo). character to reinforce the recognition of this species is that the
neotropical species of Capparaceae, the shape and color of the ovaries in dried material do not show con-
spicuous variability. Neocalyptrocalyx nectareus and N. leprieurii have ovaries oblong-cylindrical and brown
(when dried), but the ovaries of N. morii are ovoid and yellowish (when dried). In addition, Neocalyptrocalyx
morii has alternate leaves, while N. nectareus and N. leprieurii usually have spiral leaves. Several of the studied
collections have been previously identified as a local variant of Neocalyptrocalyx but none of the
leprieurii,
studied specimens shows intermediate features between N. and N. These morphologi-
floral leprieurii morii.
with uniform
cal differences correlated the geographical distribution of the studied collections lead us
to
new
recognize Neocalyptrocalyx morii as a distinct species.
—
We
name new
Etymology. are pleased to this species in honor of Scott A. Mori, the distinguished
on who
specialist neotropical Lecythidaceae, collected the type (see details in litis et al. 1996: 378), and the
main
editor of Guide to the vascular plants of central French Guiana.
—
Common
Habitat and Distribution. but scattered in well-drained tropical moist forests of Saul and
St.
French Guiana.
Elie,
—
Phenology. This nocturnal and presumably bat-pollinated species has been collected with flowers from
September November.
to
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank C. Feuillet (US) and ai anonymous reviewer for criticizing the manuscript. Bobbi Angell
and Scott Mori (NY) kindly provided the permission to reproduce the plate published in this article. Cony
Decock (MUCL)
translated the abstract French.
to
REFERENCES
Two new
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Iltis.
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A new
H.H., CumanA, R.E. Delgado, and G.C. Aymard. 996. Studies in the Capparidaceae XVIII. giant-fruited
_tis, L.J. 1
Novon
Capparis (C muco) from Eastern Venezuela. 6:375-384.
de
H.H and S.A. Mori. 2002. Capparaceae (Caper family). In: S.A. Mori, G. Cremers, C. Gracie, J.-J. Granville,
_tis,
S.V Heald, and Mitchell, eds. Guide to the vascular plants of central French Guiana. Part 2. Dicotyledons.
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