Gustavia pulchra Miers

  • Family

    Lecythidaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Gustavia pulchra Miers

  • Primary Citation

    Trans. Linn. Soc. London 30: 182. 1874

  • Description

    Author: Scott A. Mori

    Type: Brazil. Amazonas: Rio Uranacua [Uaranacuá near Carvocira fide Miers, 1874], Dec 1851 (fl), Spruce 1933 (lectotype, K, here designated; isolectotypes, BM, K, P).

    Description: Pachycaul, understory, probably few-branched trees, to 18 m. Stems thick, 5-12 mm diam., the leaves aggregated in verticels at their ends, somewhat arching upwards. Bark smooth, gray. Leaves present at anthesis; petioles 2-40 x 3-5 mm, hemispherical in cross section; blades oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, 30-61 x 6-13 cm, glabrous, coriaceous, the bases acute to rounded, the margins entire, the apex acuminate; venation brochidodromous, the midrib adaxially prominulous, abaxially salient, the secondary veins in 19-29 pairs, decurrent, usually 1.5-2 cm apart in middle of leaf, sometimes to 3 cm apart, especially when intersecondaries present, adaxially plane to prominulous, abaxially salient, intersecondary veins often but not always present, the tertiary veins percurrent. Inflorescences cauline, racemose, with 1-7 flowers, the rachis 15-100 mm long, pubescent, the trichomes horizontally oriented, appearing in distinct bands associated with horizontal white bands of unknown structure, lenticels sparse; pedicels 25-55(100) mm long, pubescent, lenticellate, the trichomes and white bands horizontally oriented, subtended by single oblong or ovate bract 3-5 x 2-4.5 mm and 2 ovate, cucullate bracteoles 2-4 x 2-4 mm inserted at or above middle of pedicel. Flowers 12.5-14 cm diam.; hypanthium obscurely or markedly 4-6- costate, ferruginous pubescent; calyx with (5-)6 (-7) triangular lobes, 2-3.5 x 4-8 mm, abaxially ferruginous pubescent; petals (7-)8 (-10), narrowly obovate, 55-70 x 25-30 mm, densely ferruginous pubescent in bud, puberulous at anthesis, white with flushes of pink abaxially; androecium with staminal tube 18-26 mm high, the outermost filaments 13-20 mm long, cream or yellow at base, pink apically, the anthers 3-4 mm, yellow; ovary usually 6-locular, the summit densely white to yellowish pubescent, the trichomes not in reticulate pattern, the style obconical, 2-3 mm long, the stigma with (5-)6 lobes. Fruits cylindrical, with distinct constriction below calycine rim, obscurely costate, 4-5.5 x 3.5-4.5 cm diam., without persistent calyx-lobes. Seeds rounded in cross section, 20-22 x 10-15 mm diam., ca 4 per fruit, with fleshy yellow aril to 21 x 6 mm.

    Common names: Venezuela: cachimbo (Liesner 6382), cachimbo de mono (Huber 4923), coco de mono (Ruiz-Teran 10655), palo cachimbo (Liesner 3980), palo cachimbo de rebalse (Clark 7905), palo de rabipelado (Huber 4923), vara de muerto (Fernandez 3001), vela de muerto (Trujillo 15250).

    Distribution: Gustavia pulchra is confined to the upper Orinoco and middle to upper Rio Negro watersheds; collected only in Brazil and Venezuela.

    Ecology: A common tree in periodically inundated forests at elevations less than 200 meters.

    Phenology: Gustavia pulchra flowers from December to April. Mature fruits have been collected in April, May and October.

    Pollination: No observations recorded but most likely pollinated by buzz-pollinated bees as reported for other species of Gustavia(Mori & Boeke, 1987).

    Dispersal: No observations recorded.

    Predation: No observations recorded.

    Field characters: This species is recognized in the field by its preference for blackwater flooded forests in the Rio Negro and Rio Orinoco watershed basins; relatively narrow leaf blades; thick stems indicating a pachycaul growth form; cauline inflorescences; rachises and pedicels with horizontally oriented white lines and tricomes; hypanthium densely ferruginous; 6 calyx-lobes; dense pubescence throughout ovary summit; and fruits with constriction directly below calycine ring. Nearly all species of Gustavia have pubescent ovary summits but the trichomes in most of the other species are arranged in a reticulate pattern thereby leaving trichome-free areas.

    Taxonomic notes: One collection (Silva et al. 1224) has pedicel lengths to 100 mm or more long but we consider that to be variation within the species limits because all other features of the collection are within our circumscription for Gustavia puchra.

    Uses: None recorded.

    Etymology: The epithet refers to the beauty of this species.

    Conservation: Not listed on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species and we conclude that there is no immediate danger for this species. Gustavia pulchra appears to be relatively common and widespread in the natural habitats that still exist in large areas within its distribution range.

    Source: Based on Mori in Prance and Mori (1979).

    Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Karen M. Redden for allowing us to use the beautiful field images of this species.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Gustavia pulchra Miers: [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.