Roupala pachypoda Cuatrec.

  • Authority

    Prance, Ghillean T., et al. 2007. Proteaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 100: 1-218. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Proteaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Roupala pachypoda Cuatrec.

  • Type

    Type. Colombia. Caldas: Cordillera Central, Hoya del Río Otún, Peña Bonita, 2660 m, 27 Nov 1946, (fl), Cuatrecasas 23349 (holotype, F; isotype, COL [2 sheets]).

  • Description

    Deprecated: mb_convert_encoding(): Handling HTML entities via mbstring is deprecated; use htmlspecialchars, htmlentities, or mb_encode_numericentity/mb_decode_numericentity instead in /home/emu/nybgweb/www-dev/htdocs/science-dev/wp-content/themes/nybgscience/lib/VHMonographsDetails.php on line 179

    Species Description - Shrub, 2-6 m tall, or tree, 3-15(-20) m tall. Branches beige or pale gray, dark red-gray or gray after epidermal layer lost; with short, appressed tomentum, pale brown fading to gray, rapidly glabrescent. Lenticels numerous, inconspicuous to conspicuous, plane becoming raised as rim develops, orange-brown. Leaves simple, rigid-coriaceous, drying ochraceous, pale green, or pale brown, very light, with a short-pilose covering of indumentum above and below when young, shiny or matte, glabrescent. Petiole (1-)1.5-4(-5) cm long × 1-4 mm broad at midlength, (1/1.2-)1/3-1/7.5 the length of the lamina, terete or subterete, flatter adaxially towards the lamina, the tomentum sometimes persistent, gray. Lamina (5-)6-15(-26) × 3.5-9(015.5) cm, length:breadth 1.5-2(-2.5):1, wide-elliptic, ovate, or oblong to wide-oblong; base (acute to) obtuse to rounded, often decurrent and asymmetrical; apex acute to obtuse or obtuse-acuminate, the apical point of midrib sometimes protruding as minute mucro; margin entire or serrate with 15-22 serrations, revolute towards base; venation ± plane, obscure to conspicuous above, very prominent and conspicuous below, lowermost vein eucamptodromous, the remaining venation semicraspedodromous, the midvein reaching the apex; lateral veins 5-9(-12) pairs. Inflorescences axillary, unbranched, new flush of leaves terminal to inflorescence-bearing region, 7-20(-24) × 2.7-3.5 cm, short, sparse-pilose; peduncle 0.5-3.5 cm × 1.5-3.5 mm, few sterile bracts towards base. Common bracts 0.5-l(-1.5) × 0.5-0.8 mm, densely to sparsely tomentose to the outside, glabrous within. Flower-pair axis absent. Pedicels 3-4.5 × 0.8-1.3 mm, mostly glabrous. Buds 1.75-2.5 mm broad at the apex, 1-2 mm broad at midlength, glabrous or sparse-pilose. Flowers 9-12 mm long; filaments 0-0.5(-l) mm long, adnate 6-8 mm from base of tepals; anthers 3-4.5 × 0.6-1 mm; nectary lobes 0.3-0.5(-0.7) mm long, well separated; ovary hairs extending 2-3 mm from base of ovary, covering entire ovary and sometimes base of style, rarely covering majority of the style (specimens from Peru), pale brown, velutinous; ovules 0.6-1 × 0.2-0.4 mm. Infructescence 9-18(-23) cm × (2-)3-4 mm, glabrous; fruit pedicel 2-5(-6) × (2-)3-4 mm, glabrous. Fruit 2.5-3.5(-4) × 1.5-2.2 cm, both sutured and unsutured sides curved equally, the base constricted for 2-3 mm, the apex briefly narrowing or constricted to 5 mm, curved so apex perpendicular to unsutured side, rarely not curved, the style thick, curved at apex, sometimes persistent, rugulose, brown-velutinous when immature, gray-brown and glabrous when mature, the marginal vein only conspicuous along sutured side.

  • Discussion

    Diagnostic characters. A species characterized, in the Andean region, by its robust fruits on thick pedicels, and robust and large flowers and inflorescence. May be confused with Roupala monosperma when specimens are not significantly robust.

    Field characters. Shrub 2-6 m tall, or tree 3-15 (-20) m tall, 4-34 cm dbh, crown open, re-sprouting readily from cut stumps. Bark gray, fissured and flaking in large pieces, lenticellate; inner bark ca. 1 mm thick, pink or orange-brown. Wood very hard, heavy, cream colored in young trees, red when old; wood, branches, and leaves with smell of tuna. Leaves coriaceous, oval shaped, entire or serrate at the margins, sometimes reddish or purplish when young, discolorous when mature, dark green and shiny above, pale green beneath with venation prominent. Flowers sweetly fragrant, greenish-yellow, greenish-white, yellow, yellow-white, or white; ovary maroon-brown or pink; style pale yellow; anthers cream colored, pollen yellow. Young fruits yellow to green, sometimes with a slight covering of brown indumentum, mature fruit brown to gray, glabrous.

    The wood is not cut extensively as it is apparently too hard to work, and not sawn since the trunk size is too small (Valle del Cauca). However, the man who gave this information indeed had a trunk used as a roof support for his own house, showed how it comprised part of the field boundary fence due to its remarkable durability, and demonstrated how he was using a small length of the trunk as a club to strip the bark from cut tree trunks. In Imbabura, the tree is recorded as having been highly exploited.

    It is interesting that the same common names (berraco and came fiambre in southwestern SW Colombia; roble in northwestern Ecuador) at times apply for Roupala monosperma as for R. pachypoda, suggesting their morphological similarity. It is thought that the name yolombo rosado is a misnomer, since yolombo" is usually applied to the genus Panopsis, in particular to P. metcalfii and P. yolombo, and that its use for R. pachypoda is most likely due to the structure of the wood which the local people recognize as being the same for the two genera. Although R. pachypoda and R. monosperma overlap in altitude in some instances, generally 2500 m represents the upper limit for R. monosperma and the lower limit for R. pachypoda. The two species would appear to be closely related to one another.

    Close affinities also exist between Roupala pachypoda and R. cordifolia, and the differences that separate them may be seen to break down in Peru. The specimen Dillon & Sanchez 6247 (K) has leaves that are extremely small and rounded for R. pachypoda, 3.5-5 × 3-7 cm (length:breadth 0.7-1.2:1), vs. (5-)6-15(-26) × 3.5-9(-15.5) cm, which are distinctly emarginate at the apices, and have only 4 vs. 5-9(-12) lateral vein pairs. However, the pedicellate fruits are the same as those of R. pachypoda, and the specimen is identified as R. aff. pachypoda. Another specimen, Cano 2020 (F) is intermediate between R. pachypoda and R. cordifolia. The leaves are like those of R. cordifolia, and the flowers are a cross between both species, possessing a dense indumentum covering all flower parts like R. cordifolia (although the indumentum of Cano 2020 is very short tomentose, velutinous) but markedly pedicellate, with pedicels to 4 mm long, rather than only 0.5 mm as in R. cordifolia. The ovary indumentum is also like that in R. pachypoda: very short, brown, and covering part of the style. Common bracts are in the same size range as R. pachypoda. The indumentum on young branches is not persistent on this specimen, thus placing it with R. pachypoda. With respect to the leaves, however, Cano 2020 is more akin to R. cordifolia, being the same shape with a length:breadth ratio of 1-1.5:1 (vs. 1.5-2:1 for R. pachypoda). This intermediate species demonstrates that there is plasticity between the two species, and that pedicel character is most probably a highly artificial for separating the species.

    It is imperative to see the specimen Humboldt et al. s.n. (Field Museum photo 34987, F, MO) to know where to place it in synonymy. It is the type specimen of Roupala cordifolia reported to be at P. It presents the same problem as Cano 2020 (F), mentioned above, and it could be better to place the intermediate material between R. pachypoda and R. loxensis in R. cordifolia.

    Distribution and Ecology: Stretching in an arc from Caldas, Risaralda, and Quindio in western Colombia, through Ecuador to Piura, Peru. This is a high altitude species, recorded as high as 4000 m in the Páramo of Puracé in Cauca, and as low as 1500 m in the Central Cordillera of Valle del Cauca, Colombia; however, the plant more typically grows between 2500 and 3500 m alt. The preferred habitat is montane forest (robledal, or oak wood, on one collecting label) to páramo, although most collections state that the forest is disturbed or that the plants are isolated in pasture. Soils at one locality are said to be black, of volcanic origin.

    Phenology. Flowering and fruiting throughout the year, especially Nov-Jan, Apr, and Aug-Sep.

  • Common Names

    came fiambre, fósforos, berraco, berraco Colorado, yolombo rosado, pagua, roble

  • Distribution

    Carchi Ecuador South America| Imbabura Ecuador South America| Pichincha Ecuador South America| Piura Peru South America| Cauca Colombia South America| Nariño Colombia South America| Quindío Colombia South America| Risaralda Colombia South America| Valle Colombia South America|