Calliandra virgata Benth.

Authors

Rupert C. Barneby

Authority

Barneby, Rupert C. 1998. Silk tree, guanacaste, monkey's earring: A generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part III. Calliandra. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 74: 1-223.

Family

Mimosaceae

Scientific Name

Calliandra virgata Benth.

Type

"Brazil, Pohl," the locality given in Martius, 1876: 417: "Serra dos Chrystaës [Goiás]." — Holotypus, Pohl 1474, K (hb. Benth.)! = NY Neg. 1963. — Feuilleea virgata O. Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 189. 1891. Fig. 29

Synonyms

Calliandra virgata Benth.

Description

Species Description - Subshrubs from woody rootstock, the erect virgate stems simple or almost so, 3-7 dm, dying back yearly to the ground, the stems, lf-stks, and peduncles thinly to densely puberulent and sometimes in addition finely hirsutulous, the firm plane bicolored lfts dark brownish-green and lustrous ventrally, paler beneath, usually glabrous or only minutely ciliolate, exceptionally (Irwin 8805, NY) facially hirsutulous and ciliate, the hemispherical capitula solitary or rarely geminate on stout peduncle in upper lf-axils, or some later ones, by suppression of distal lvs, forming a short terminal pseudoraceme; phyllotaxy indecisive, sometimes subdistichous, often irregular. Stipules erect, mostly narrow-lanceolate or subsetiform, sometimes lance-ovate, (2-)3-9 x 0.45-1.3 mm, weakly striate, tardily deciduous. Lf-formula i/14—27; lf-stks upward from mid-stem 2-8 mm, some proximal ones to 10-18 mm, the terminal appendage linear-lanceolate 1-4 mm; rachis of longer pinnae 5.5-13 cm, the longer interfoliolar segments (2.5-)3-8 mm; lfts ascending at narrow angles to rachis, little graduated, each sessile in an obliquely dilated socket on rachis, the pulvinule twice as wide as long, the blade linear-lanceolate from inequilaterally shallow-cordate or semicordate base, abruptly apiculate or mucronulate, straight to gently retrofalcate, the longer ones 11-23 x (2-)2.4-4.2 mm, (4-)4.3-6 times as long as wide; venation of 2(3) primary nerves, the midrib subcentric, the posterior nerve produced ± to mid-blade, the short secondary nervules widely ascending, the tertiary ones sinuous, the whole venulation prominulous on both faces. Peduncles (2-)2.5-8(-11) cm, bracteate above middle; capitula 12-26-fld, the receptacle 2-3 mm diam, the sessile calyces contiguous at anthesis, the outer ones often incurved toward vertical; bracts lance-ovate 1.2-2.8 mm, persistent; fls glabrous, the calyx striate, the pallid whitish or brownish-green corolla only faintly nerved; calyx campanulate 2.9-5 x 1.7-3.2 mm, the ovate-deltate teeth 0.3-1 mm, often unequal; corolla (7.5—)8.5—11.5 mm, the ovate or broad-lanceolate lobes 1.6-3 x 1.2-2 mm; androecium 28-38- merous, 29-37 mm, the stemonozone 0.6-1.6 mm, the tube 13-25 mm, the tassel pink or carmine distally; intrastaminal disc 0.5-1 mm tall, distinctly 5-lobed; ovary substipitate, glabrous, the style linear, at porose apex ±0.2 mm diam. Pods solitary from top of receptacle, erect, in profile oblanceolate ±5-6 x 1 cm, 7-8- seeded, the sutures and valves alike ligneous, purple- brown glabrous, the dilated sutures 3-4-ribbed lengthwise on each side of line of dehiscence, the recessed valves densely venulose with arborescently ramulose nerves obliquely ascending from inner edge of abaxial suture; seed-funicles deltate ±1.5 mm; ripe seeds unknown.

Distribution and Ecology - In campo cerrado of the centr. Brazilian Planalto, 650-1225 m, locally abundant in the Federal District and adj. Goiás, thence s. to and just beyond the Paranaiba river into the Triangulo Mineiro. — Map 45. — Fl. IX-III.

Taxonomy and relationships - The record of C. virgata from Pernambuco in Flora brasiliensis (Bentham, 1876: 418) is based on a mislabeled and misidentified specimen of C. luetzelburgii (Martius s.n., M!).

Distribution

Goiás Brazil South America| Distrito Federal Brazil South America|