Cecropia silvae
Content
Description
Tree up to 30 m tall. Branchlets 2-4 cm thick, hispidulous to subhirsute, partly with uncinate hairs; prostomata present. Stipules unknown; petiole up to 45 cm long, trichilia present, these with ca. 0.3 mm long, (stiff), white hairs; blade subcoriaceous, ca. 30-40 x 30-40 cm, incisions 15, down to the petiole, upper surface scabr(idul)ous, lower surface on the veins puberulous to subhirtellous, with arachnoid hairs in the areoles, on the smaller veins and often also on the main veins; secondary vein pairs ca. 40-45, unbranched, submarginally loop-connected. Staminate inflorescences: peduncle ca. 9 cm long; spikes ca. 40-50, stipitate, 4-8 x ca. 0.3 cm; perianth muriculate at the apex, with sparse, short hairs below the apex; anthers after abscission attached to the perianth by the appendages of the thecae. Pistillate inflorescences: peduncle 4-7 cm long; spikes 4, sessile, 4-5 x 0.5 cm, in fruit up to 8 x 1 cm; perianth with arachnoid hairs to near the aperture of the perianth; stigma penicillate (to subpeltate). Fruit ca. 2.5 mm long, tuberculate.
Distribution
French Guiana, Sipaliwini Savanna present, Southern America: Brazil North (Pará present), southern Surinam present
Brazil (Para), southern Surinam (Sipaliwini savanna), and possibly French Guiana (see note).
Notes
The collections Prevost 1514 and 1727 from French Guiana (piste St. Laurent — Apatou) probably represent the juvenile form of C. silvae . The blade is very deeply incised and has to 15, narrow segments, like in the adult form, but the petiole is more densely hirsute, the blade hirsute above, and the segments have long-acuminate apices.