Pouteria egregia Sandwith

Authority

Pennington, Terence D. 1990. Sapotaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 52: 1-750. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family

Sapotaceae

Scientific Name

Pouteria egregia Sandwith

Type

Type. Guyana, Essequibo R., Moraballi Creek, Nov 1929 (fl), Sandwith 573 (holotype, K; isotypes, G, NY, P, RB, U, US, W).

Synonyms

Sandwithiodoxa egregia (Sandwith) Aubrév. & Pellegr.

Description

Species Description - Tree; young shoots minutely and sparsely appressed puberulous at first, soon glabrous, rough, greyish, lenticellate. Leaves spaced, spirally arranged to subopposite, 5-9(-l1) x 2.5-3.3(-4.8) cm, oblanceolate, elliptic or oblong-elliptic, apex shortly narrowly attenuate to obtusely cuspidate or rounded, base narrowly attenuate or cuneate, chartaceous to subcoriaceous, upper surface glabrous, lower surface glaucous, with scattered minute appressed hairs, or glabrous; venation brochidodromous, midrib flat or slightly raised on the upper surface, secondary veins 14-21 pairs, parallel and usually straight; intersecondaries long; tertiaries mostly parallel to secondaries and descending from margin. Petiole 3-9 mm long, slightly channelled, glabrous. Fascicles 5-15-flowered, axillary and below the leaves. Pedicel 1-8 mm long, with scattered minute appressed indumentum. Flowers unisexual (plant dioecious). Sepals four, 0.5-1 mm long, fused to about halfway, broadly ovate or triangular, apex acute to rounded, with sparse minute appressed indumentum outside, glabrous inside, sometimes ciliate. Corolla cyathiform, ca. 2 mm long, tube 0.75-1 mm long, lobes four, 1-1.25 mm long (equalling or exceeding tube), lanceolate to ovate, apex acute, aestivation slightly imbricate to subvalvate, minutely appressed puberulous outside, glabrous inside. Stamens four, free or fixed in the lower half of the corolla tube; filaments 0.75-1.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers 0.3-0.5 mm long, lanceolate, glabrous; stamens absent in female. Staminodes four, 0.6-1 mm long in male, ca. 0.2 mm long in female, subulate, glabrous. Disk absent. Ovary broadly ovoid, bilocular, appressed puberulous; style 0.4-0.6 mm long after anthesis, glabrous; style-head simple. Fruit 1.8-2.7 cm long, broadly ellipsoid to globose, apex rounded or obtuse, base rounded to slightly tapered, smooth to minutely verruculate, glabrous. Seed 1 (-2), 1.4-1.8 cm long, broadly ellipsoid to obovoid, rounded at base and apex, slightly laterally compressed, testa smooth, shining, sometimes adherent to pericarp, 0.3-1 mm thick; scar adaxial, full-length, 3.5-8 mm wide; embryo with plano-convex, free cotyledons, radicle extending to the surface; endosperm absent. Field characters. Tree to 40 m high and 90 cm diam., larger specimens with simple or branched running buttresses to 2.5 m high (spreading up to 3 m), bole slightly fluted at base, cylindric above, bark pale buff-brown or grey-brown, vertically cracked and scaling in thin narrow strips, slash orange-streaked, with plentiful sticky white latex, leaves greyish-green to glaucous below; flowers pale greenish-white, fruit maturing yellowish to dull orange. Flowering Sep-Nov, fruit maturing May-Sep (Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas), Nov (Brazil).

Discussion

The sweet succulent fruit is appreciated by both monkeys and humans.

Relationships.

Pouteria egregia has a considerable superficial resemblance to species of sect. Oxythece such as P. elegans and P. cuspidata, due to the glaucous lower leaf surface and brochidodromous venation, and similar-sized flowers. It differs from these species, and others of the section, in its tetramerous flowers (pentamerous in sect. Oxythece), and in the consistent occurrence of the full complement of four well-developed staminodes (at least in male flowers, staminodes are reduced in size in female) fixed at or near the base of the corolla tube. The floral structure is close to that of P. bangii, P. coriacea and P. puberula, particularly the latter which also has the same proportion of length of corolla lobes to corolla tube. There are no significant differences in seed structure, and it is therefore placed with these species in sect. Franchetella.

Its position here is also supported by wood anatomical characters (Kukachka, 1980b, 1982c). It is nevertheless very distinct and easily distinguished by the glaucous leaves and brochidodromous venation with descending tertiaries.

The subvalvate corolla aestivation, used by Aubreville to justify placement of the species in the segregate genus Sandwithiodoxa, is not constant; the aestivation is frequently slightly imbricate.

Common Names

Alofachi-boiti, cururu, kleinbladig zwart riemhout, kokeritiballi, purguillo, purguillo amarillo

Objects

Pending, B. M. Boom 2393, Pouteria egregia Sandwith, Sapotaceae (269.0), Magnoliophyta; South America, French Guiana

Specimen - 01252056, T. N. Guedes 274, Pouteria egregia Sandwith, Sapotaceae (269.0), Magnoliophyta; South America, Brazil, Pará

Specimen - 273635, N. Y. Sandwith 573, Pouteria egregia Sandwith, Sapotaceae (269.0), Magnoliophyta, isotype; South America, Guyana

Distribution

Amazonian Colombia (Meta), Venezuela, the Guianas to Pará, Brazil. A component of semi-evergreen lowland rainforest on non-flooded land, ascending to 800 m in the Pakaraima Mts., Guyana.

Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Carabobo Venezuela South America| Distrito Federal Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America|