Lecythis zabucajo Aubl.

  • Family

    Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Lecythis zabucajo Aubl.

  • Primary Citation

    Hist. Pl. Guiane 2: 719. 1775

  • Description

    Author: Scott A. Mori

    Type: Plate 283 in Aublet 1775 (lectotype, designated in Fl. Neotrop. Mongr. 21(II). 1990).

    Description: Large trees, to 55 m tall. Twigs glabrous or puberulous when young, when glabrous then markedly lenticellate. Bark brown to grayish-brown, with deep vertical fissures, the outer bark laminated, the sapwood creamish to yellowish-white, the heartwood usually reddish-brown. Leaves deciduous just before anthesis; petioles 3-10 mm long, puberulous or glabrous; blades narrowly to widely elliptic, 6-11.5 x 2-5.5 cm, glabrous, chartaceous, the base obtuse, very narrowly decurrent onto petiole, the margins crenate, the apex acuminate; secondary veins in 10-16 pairs. Inflorescences of racemes, 1-2 arising from same point or, less frequently, of paniculate arrangements of racemes, usually from young twigs below leaves but sometimes more or less terminal, with 5-30 flowers, the rachis 4-10.5 cm long, with or without conspicuous lenticels; pedicels 3-5 mm long, glabrous or puberulous, subtended by a leaf or a caducous bract, with two ovate to oblong caducous bracteoles 2-2.5 x 2 mm inserted near base. Flowers 4-5 cm diam.; calyx with 6, very widely to widely ovate, green lobes, 5-10 x 5-9 mm; petals 6, very widely to widely obovate, 15-25 x 15-19 mm, usually yellow, less frequently white, often with purple at margins and apex; androecium: staminal ring with 370-510 stamens, the filaments 1.5-2 mm long, dilated at apex, yellow, the anthers 0.5 mm long; hood flat, 10-20 x 16-20 mm, yellow, less frequently white, with well developed appendages, the proximal ones with anthers, the distal ones antherless, the pollen of hood turning black with age; hypanthium usually puberulus, sometimes glabrous; ovary 4-locular, with 12-26 ovules in each locule, the ovules inserted on lower ¾ of septum, the style 1.5-2 mm long, with slight annular expansion towards apex. Fruits globose or turbinate, always slightly wider than long, 6-12(16.5) (excluding operculum) x 7.5-13(17.5) cm, the calycine ring usually more or less prominent, the pericarp 10-18 (25) mm thick, the operculum convex. Seeds fusiform, 2-4 x 1-1.5 cm, with 4-6 sulci, the seed coat rugulose; aril fleshy.

    Common names: Brazil: castanha sapucaia, sapucaia. French Guiana: canari macaque, kouatapatou (Paramaka language), marmite de singe, quatelé (Aublet, 1775), zabucaio (Aublet, 1775). Guyana: monkey pot, wadaduri. Surinam: kwatapatoe. Venezuela: coco de mono, tinajito.

    Distribution: Lecythis zabucajo is common in the Guianas and eastern Venezuela and less frequent in central and western Amazonia.

    Ecology: A canopy or emergent tree of non-inundated forests.

    Phenology: This species blooms most profusely from Jun to Sep.

    Pollination: No observations recorded but this species has sterile pollen in the androecial hood and is most likely pollinated by bees seeking the fodder pollen as a reward. The floral morphology is identical to that of L. pisonis, a species for which information on the pollination system has been recorded.

    Dispersal: The seeds of L. zabucajo are edible but difficult to collect because they are taken from the fruits at maturity by animals. Bats probably play an important role in the dispersal of the seeds in much the same way as has been described for L. pisonis (see discussion of L. pisonis).

    Predation: No observations recorded.

    Taxonomic notes: Aublet's description of Lecythis zabucajo includes elements of the common, yellow-flowered, large-fruited sapucaia with edible seeds of the Guianas (common name, habit, fruits, seeds, uses of his protologue) for which I have previously used the name L. tumefacta (Mon &Prance, 1981a), Eschweilera pedicellata (Richard) Mori (flowers and leaves of his protologue), and E. grandiflora (Aublet) Sandwith (flowers of his illustration). Howard (1983) has pointed out that it was not uncommon for Aublet to have based his illustrations and text of what he thought to be a single species on what actually was a mixture of several species. It is difficult to typify this name because Aublet's reference to Plate 285 in the protologue leads to a composite plate (including plates 283, 286, 287) in which three different species are illustrated. Plate 283 depicts the fruit of the "sapucaia," the species under consideration, but Aublet also refers to this plate in his protologue of Lecythis grandiflora. A further complication is that in his protologues of L. grandiflora and L. zabucajo he refers to plate 284 as representing the flowers of both species. They are, however, a true representation of L. grandiflora (=Eschweilera grandiflora). Plate 288, also referred to in the protologue of L. zabucajo, represents the leaves and inflorescence of Eschweilera pedicellata. The identity of plate 288 is supported by the Aublet collection at the BM which, although labelled as L. zabucajo, is in fact E. pedicellata. Lecythis zabucajo exhibits considerable variation in fruit size and form (see Fig. 93 in Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 21(II). 1990). The fruits of Venezuelan and Guyanan individuals tend to have more pronounced calycine thickenings and the supracalycine zone of specimens from Surinam usually forms an angle greater than 45 degrees. Similar fruit variation is found in most large-fruited species of Neotropical Lecythidaceae (Mori & Prance, 1981a). Petal color varies from completely yellow, to yellow or white at the base and red or purple at the apex (see images attached to Mori et al. 25034), to entirely white. The androecial hood is usually yellow. Seedling leaves are markedly narrower, more serrate, and more sessile than adult leaves. Lecythis zabucajo was incorrection as "L. zabucaja" in Flora Neotropica II (Mori in Mori & Prance, 2009).

    Conservation: Not on IUCN Red List (Jan 2014).

    Uses: The seeds of L. zabucajo are edible but difficult to collect because they are taken from the fruits at maturity by animals. Bats probably play an important role in the dispersal of the seeds in much the 'same way as has been described for L. pisonis (see dispersal of L. pisonis).

    Etymology: The name "zabucajo" is derived from the Brazilian word "sapucaia" which is used for a group of four closely related species of Lecythis with edible seeds (Mori & Prance, 1981a). The "sapucaia" of Marcgrave (1648) refers to L. pisonis and not the common Guianan species under consideration here. In addition, the French common names for this species cited by Aublet, "canari macaque" and "marmite de singe," also refer to the species with edible seeds. In his protologue, Aublet refers to the Portuguese (Brazilians) as using the capsules for pots and as extracting oil from the seeds. Consequently, it is clear that Aublet intended his L. zabucaja to refer to the large-fruited Lecythis with edible seeds which is common but widely scattered in the forests of French Guiana. I have changed the spelling of zabucajo to zabucaja to conform to the gender of the generic name.

    Source: This species page is based on Mori & Prance, 1990.

    Acknowledgements: We are grateful to M. F. Prévost and A. Pérez for allowing us to use their images to illustrate the characters of this species.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Lecythis zabucajo Aubl.: [Article] 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.

    Lecythis zabucajo Aubl.: [Article] 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.

  • Narratives

    Leaf morphology and anatomy of Lecythis zabucajo.

    Inflorescence and flower morphology and anatomy of Lecythis zabucajo.