Eschweilera micrantha (O.Berg) Miers

  • Authority

    Mori, S. A. & Lepsch da Cunha, Nadia M. 1995. The Lecythidaceae of a central Amazonian moist forest. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 75: 1-55.

  • Family

    Lecythidaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Eschweilera micrantha (O.Berg) Miers

  • 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 - Emergent trees, to 50 m tall, usually unbuttressed, often slightly fluted toward base, infrequently buttressed. Bark smooth, scalloped, the outer bark ca. 1 mm thick, the inner bark 10-20 mm thick, orange to reddish orange, often with concentric reddish lines or bands. Leaves: petioles 7-15 mm long; blades usually elliptic to widely elliptic, less frequently ovate to narrowly ovate, 8.5-14(-17) x 3.5-7 cm, chartaceous to coriaceous, glabrous, with 7-11 pairs of lateral veins; base acute, obtuse, or rounded; apex acuminate. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, of once-branched paniculate arrangements of racemes, the rachises pubescent; pedicels 3-8 mm long, puberulous. Flowers ca. 2 cm diam.; calyx-lobes 6, thick, gibbous at base, not imbricate, ca. 2 x 2 mm; petals 6, white, sometimes tinged with varying amounts of pink; androecial hood light yellow, the staminal ring with ca. 150 stamens, extending partially up ligule; ovary 2-locular, the style ca. 2 mm long. Fruits cup-shaped, the calycine ring inserted above middle, 3-4.5 (excluding operculum) x 4-5.5 cm, the pericarp 5-7 mm thick; operculum convex, slightly umbonate.

  • Discussion

    Phenology. Flowers from Feb to Aug and fruits from Feb to Jul. Common name. Matamatá. Comments. This species is characterized by its (1) relatively thick, orangish inner bark with concentric red lines or bands, (2) small flowers, and (3) thick-walled, cup-shaped fruits. The morphological differences between E. micrantha and E. rankiniae are subtle. The fruits of the latter are more pointed at the base and its leaves are smaller than those of E. micrantha. This species had been previously misidentified by us as Eschweilera apiculata.

  • Distribution

    Habitat. Terra firme. The 100-ha plot contains 180 individuals of this species =10 cm dbh.

    French Guiana South America| Suriname South America| Brazil South America| Venezuela South America| Guyana South America|