Emmotum acuminatum

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Emmotum acuminatum

Description

Tree or shrub, 2-15 m tall; branchlets terete, sparsely puberulent, glabrate. Petiole slender, 0.5-2 cm long, canaliculate above; blades coriaceous, ovate-orbicular to ovate-oblong or oblong, 8-15 x 3.5-8 cm, margins slightly revolute, apex acuminate, acumen 1-2 cm long, base rounded, slightly sericeous or pilose, especially on veins when young, glabrescent except on veins; primary vein sulcate above, prominent beneath, puberulous, secondary veins 5-8 on each side, slightly prominent beneath, arcuate ascending, ending free. Inflorescences 2-6 congested multiflorous panicles, 1-3 cm long; branches densely grayish sericeous. Calyx stellate-campanulate, 1-1.5 mm diam., ca. 1 mm high, lobes broadly-triangular, ca. 0.5 x 1 mm, densely short sericeous outside; petals white, linear, 2.5-4 x 1 mm, apex acute, finely short sericeous outside, long lanate on apical two third of midrib inside; stamens 3-4 mm long, filaments narrowed towards base and apex, ca. 2.5 mm long, ca. 0.5 mm wide, anthers oblong, ca. 1 mm long, flattened, dorsifixed; ovary cylindrical-subglobose, ca. 1.5 mm long, with distinct basal sterile part, 3-celled, style to 2.5 mm long, strongly eccentric. Drupe depressed-globose, ribbed, asymmetric, 1.5 cm diam.

Distribution

Southern America: Brazil North (Amapá present, Amazonas presentpresent, Pará present); Venezuela (Venezuela present), south of the Guianas
Venezuela (Amazonas), Brazil (Amazonas, Para, Amapa). Most collections are from open caatinga, campina or savanna vegetations on sandy soils. Possibly to expect in the south of the Guianas; 18 collections studied.

Notes

Richard Schomburgk mentions this species from the banks of the Kukenam river, however no collections from this region are known. The type collection is according to the collectors list of Robert Schomburgk without any doubt from the banks of the Rw Negro.
A closely related species from Western Venezuelan and Brazilian Amazonas and adjacent Colombia and Peru is Emmotum floribundum Howard which is distinguished by the leaves more densely sericeous and non glabrescent beneath and with about 10 pairs of secondary veins.