Lecythis minor Jacq.

  • Authority

    Prance, Ghillean T. & Mori, S. A. 1979. Lecythidaceae - Part I. The actinomorphic-flowered New World Lecythidaceae (Asteranthos, Gustavia, Grias, Allantoma & Cariniana). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21: 1-270. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Lecythidaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Lecythis minor Jacq.

  • Type

    Type. Tabula 109 in Jacquin (lectotype, here designated).

  • Synonyms

    Lecythis elliptica Kunth, Chytroma valida Miers, Eschweilera valida (Miers) Nied., Lecythis bipartita Pittier, Chytroma bipartita (Pittier) R.Knuth, Lecythis purdiei R.Knuth, Eschweilera bolivarensis R.Knuth, Lecythis magdalenica Dugand

  • Description

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    Description - Small to medium-sized trees, often branched from base when in open habitats, 5-25 m tall. Twigs gray, glabrous to pubescent. Bark gray, relatively smooth when young, with deep vertical fissures when older. Leaf blades ovate, elliptic, or oblong, 8.5-24.5 x 4.5-10 cm, glabrous, coriaceous, with 12-19 pairs of lateral veins; apex mucronate to acuminate, infrequently acute; base obtuse to rounded, infrequently truncate, narrowly decurrent; margins usually crenulate to serrate, infrequently entire; petiole 5-20 mm long, usually puberulous, infrequently glabrous. Inflorescences racemose, unbranched, or once-branched, terminal or in axils of uppermost leaves, the principal rachis 10-35 cm long, with 10-75 flowers, all rachises pubescent, the pedicels jointed, 1-3 mm long below articulation, subtended by an ovate, caducous bract 2-4 x 23 mm, with two broadly ovate, caducous bracteoles 3-6 x 3-4 mm inserted just below articulation. Flowers 5-7 cm diam.; calyx with six widely to very widely ovate, green lobes, 6-11 x 6-9 mm; petals six, widely obovate or less frequently widely oblong to oblong, 27-42 x 1425 mm, green in bud, usually white, less frequently light yellow at anthesis; hood of androecium dorsiventrally expanded, 20-23 x 19-25 mm, with well developed, inwardly curved, antherless appendages, the outside of hood white or light yellow, the appendages always light yellow; staminal ring with 300-410 stamens, the filaments 2 mm long, dilated at apex, light yellow, the anthers 0.5-0.7 mm long, yellow; hypanthium usually pubescent, infrequently glabrous; ovary 4-locular, with 3-6 ovules in each locule, the ovules inserted on floor of locule at juncture with septum, the summit of ovary umbonate, the style not well differentiated, 2-4.5 mm long. Fruits cup-like, globose or turbinate, 5-7 x 7-9 cm, the pericarp 7.5-11 mm thick. Seeds fusiform, 2.4-3 x 1.3-2 cm, reddish-brown, with 4-6 light brown longitudinal veins when dried, the testa smooth, with cord-like funicle surrounded by fleshy white aril at base. X = 17.

  • Discussion

    The seeds of L. minor have been reported to be somewhat toxic, especially if eaten in large quantities. Jacquin (1763), in his protologue of L. minor, states that the seeds tasted agreeable to him but half an hour after consuming one he felt nausea, great anxiety, and giddiness. Dickson (1969) attributes the temporary loss of hair and fingernails that he experienced after eating 300600 seeds of L. minor to toxic elements in the seeds. Throughout northern Colombia, L. minor is thought to be poisonous. However, Romero-Castañeda (1961) feels that they are non-toxic. The toxicity of the seeds may depend upon the soils in which the plants grow as some evidence suggests that toxic seeds come from plants found on soil high in selenium (Mori, 1970).

    Lecythis minor is morphologically similar to L. ollaria, a species found east of the Andes and also known for the toxicity of its seeds (Kerdel-Vegas, 1966).

    The specific epithet of the synonym L. bipartita alludes to the hood of the androecium which was divided in three of the four flowers examined by Pittier (Pittier 10998). Although one flower was undivided, Pittier concluded that the normal condition in his species was a split androecium. Nonetheless, another sheet, probably from the same gathering (del Castillo s. n. sub Pittier 10998), does not have divided androecia. Moreover, these and other collections from the same area of Venezuela are similar in all respects to L. minor and therefore L. bipartita cannot be maintained.

  • Common Names

    coco de mono, cocuelo, coquillo, Olla de mono, ollita de mono

  • Distribution

    Lecythis minor ranges from the Maracaibo lowlands of Venezuela to the northern coast of Colombia from where it ascends the Magdalena and Cauca Valleys. This species most often occurs in dry, open, somewhat disturbed habitats where it grows as a small, much-branched tree. However, it is also found in moister forests, especially along watercourses, where it forms a handsome, single-trunked tree to 25 meters. It flowers most profusely from Apr to Dec and produces mature fruit from Dec to Feb.

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