Echinodorus macrophyllus

Content

Description

Herb, perennial, to 200 cm tall, glabrous or stellate-pubescent; rhizome present; stolon absent. Leaves emerged, green-brown, petiole ridged, stellate-pubescent toscabrous, 17-41 x 0.3-0.5 cm, basal sheath to 15 cm long, blade ovate to ovate-elliptic, 8.5-41 x 4.9-26 cm, margin entire, apex acute to round-ovate to retuse, base cordate to truncate, basal lobes present, veins 7-11, pellucid markings absent. Inflorescence paniculate or rarely racemose, erect, with 7-14 whorls, overtopping leaves, not vegetatively proliferating; whorls with 8-20 flowers; peduncle ridged, not winged, 28.5-50 x 0.3-1 cm; rachis between whorls triangular, not winged, stellate-pubescent toscabrous; bracts shorter than pedicel subtended, coarse, elliptic, 3-25 x 2.5-4 mm, apex acute, not dilated basally; pedicels in flower and fruit spreading, cylindrical to triangular, 0.4-3.5 x 0.03-0.08 cm. Flower 1.5-2.5 cm wide; sepals in flower and fruit spreading, 4.1-4.5 x 3.5-5.8 mm, with 19-25 veins, not papillose; petals not clawed, 6.4-10.5 x 4.5-7.4 mm; stamens 18-21, filaments 0.5-1.5 mm long, anthers versatile, 0.7-1.5 mm long, apex obtuse; carpels 30 or more. Fruit flattened, obovate, 2.3-2.8 x 1-1.5 mm, 2-4-ribbed, slightly 1-keeled, glands 1-2(-5), linear-elliptic, between ribs, lbeak lateral, erect, 0.5-1 mm long.

Distribution

Guianas present, Guyana present, S Nicaragua present, Southern America: Bolivia (Bolivia present); Colombia (Colombia present); Paraguay (Paraguay present); Venezuela (Venezuela present), Suriname present

from S Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname, S to Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay; 40 collections were examined, 9 from the Guianas (GU: 7; SU: 1; FG: 1).

Phenology

Flowering and fruiting .

Notes

The specimen of E. macrophyllus subsp. macrophyllus, listed by Haynes & Holm-Nielsen (1994: 57) as originating from Guyana, is from Brazil.
Jonker (1968: 378) treats E. grandiflorus (Cham. & Schltdl.) Micheli var. floribundus (Seub.) Micheli (= E. grandiflorus subsp. aureus (Fassett) R.R. Haynes & Holm-Niels.) as occurring in Suriname. The only specimen he mentions, however, belongs to E. macrophyllus subsp. scaber.
In the Guianas only: subsp. scaber (Rataj) R.R. Haynes & Holm-Niels.