Gustavia occidentalis Cuatrec.

Description

Author: Scott A. Mori

Type: Colombia. Valle: Río Calima, La Trojita, 50 m alt., 2 Mar 1944 (fl), Cuatrecasas 16639 (lectoype, F 1358513, designated by Mori in Prance & Mori (1979); isolectotype, F).

Description: Apparently understory trees, to 20 m x 40 cm. Stems 5-10 mm diam. glabrous, the leaves aggregated at apices, the scars nearly touching. Leaves present at anthesis; petioles 10-50 x 3-5 mm; blades narrowly obovate to obovate, 15-57.5 x 12-18.5 cm, coriaceous, glabrous, the base acute to cuneate, the margins entire, the apices obtuse to rounded but short acuminate at very apex; venation eucamptodromous for most of length, brochidodromous toward apex, the midrib adaxially prominulous, abaxially salient, the secondary veins in 15-24 pairs, junction with midrib decurrent, 14-28 mm apart in middle of blade, adaxially plane to prominulous, abaxially salient, often with festoons between secondary vein arches, intersecondary veins sometimes present, but short, the tertiary veins percurrent, some tertiaries arise from midrib and arch to proximal secondary, the higher order veins reticulate. Inflorescences terminal (or the axis sometimes producing leaves after flowering) or axillary, usually racemose, less frequently solitary, the rachis absent; pedicels 30-50 mm long, glabrous at anthesis, the bracteoles 2, lanceolate, 6.5 x 2 mm, inserted above middle of pedicel. Flowers 10-16 cm diam.; calyx-lobes 4, the lobes very broadly ovate, rounded at apex, very short, to 5 mm long, fused at bases to form well developed calycine rim 2-3 mm wide; petals 8, broadly obovate, 50-60 x 30-45 mm, abaxially whitish-pink to pale violet or red, adaxially white; androecium 35 mm diam., white to yellowish-white, the connate base 12-13 mm high, the outermost filaments 10-18 mm long, puberulous, the anthers 2.5-4 mm long, yellow. Fruits globose, unknown at maturity, the operculum dome-shaped. Seeds without well developed arils.

Common names: None recorded.

Distribution: Found only on the Pacific slopes and coastal plain of southwestern Colombia in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia.

Ecology: Gustavia occidentalis is a understory tree of lowland wet forests from near sea level to 1500 meters which represents an unusual variation in altitude for a species of Lecythidaceae.

Phenology: Flowers and very immature fruits have been collected in Mar, Apr, Sep, and Oct.

Pollination: No observations recorded but likely pollinated by buzz pollinating bees as has been reported for other species of the genus (Mori & Boeke, 1987).

Dispersal: No observations recorded. Mature fruits and seeds are not known.

Predation: No observations recorded.

Field characters: Gustavia occidentalis is poorly known but it can be distinguished by its limited distribution on the Pacific slopes of southwestern Colombia; distinct, robust petioles from 10 to 50 mm long and 3-5 mm thick; obovate leaf blades with an acute to cuneate base and apex rounded to an abruptly accuminate apex; terminal, racemose or solitary flowers in leaf axils; and 4, broadly ovate or rounded, very short, calyx-lobes and a calycine rim 2-3 mm wide.

Taxonomic notes: Gustavia occidentalis Cuatrec. was relegated to the rank of subspecies (Gustavia speciosa subsp. occidentalis (Cuatrec.) S. A. Mori) by Mori in Prance & Mori (1979). I now recognize this name as representing a species and place the previously accepted name G. foliosa Cuatrec. (Mori in Prance & Mori, 1979) in synonymy under Gustavia occidentalis. Both names were published in the same paper but G. occidentalis appeared first in the paper so I selected it as the name to be used. In the protologue of G. foliosa, Cuatrecasas states that this species is morphologically similar to G. occidentalis but differs in its thicker and shorter petioles; more obovate leaf blades; and foliose inflorescences. The petiole differences and leaf blade shape are so variable within species of Gustavia that these differences alone are usually not sufficient to distinguish species of Gustavia.

Conservation: A synonym of this specie (Gustavia foliosa) was classified as Vulnerable B1+2c in ver 2.3 of the IUCN Redlist of Endangered Species, and that designation should not change even with the placement of G. foliosa in the synonymy of G. occidentalis.

Uses: None recorded.

Etymology: The species epithet refers to the distribution of the species in the coastal plain and slopes of the Pacific side of the Andes.

Source: Mori in Prance & Mori (1979).

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