Brosimum parinarioides subsp. parinarioides

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Brosimum parinarioides subsp. parinarioides

Content

Description

Tree up to 40 m tall, usually monoecious. Branchlets brownpuberulous to subvelutinous. Stipules connate, fully amplexicaul, 0.5-2(-2.5) cm long, brownish puberulous, pubescent or subsericeous; petiole 0.4-2 cm long; blade coriaceous, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, 6-24(-40) x 3-8(-14) cm, apex acuminate to subacute, base obtuse to subcordate, margin entire, glabrous above, densely brown to yellowish puberulous around the areoles and for the rest more sparsely puberulous to pubescent beneath; primary vein almost plane above, veins very prominent beneath, secondary veins (12-)14-32 pairs, tertiary venation for the greater part scalariform. Inflorescences usually bisexual, subglobose to hemispherical, 0.4-1.2 cm in diam.; peduncle 0.5-2.5 cm long. Staminate flowers several to numerous; perianth 0.2-0.3 mm high, 3-4-lobed, vestigial or lacking; stamen 1. Pistillate flower 1, stigmas 0.3-1 mm long. Infructescences subglobose, ca. 2-2.5 cm in diam.

Distribution

Akarai Mts present, Guianas present, Guyana present, Northern part of the Lower Amazon Basin present
Northern part of the Lower Amazon Basin and the Guianas (in Guyana only known from the Akarai Mts.).

Common Name

English: doekali, doekaliballi

Uses

The latex has been used to adulterate balata; also used against lung diseases.

Notes

In juvenile specimens the blade beneath is rather sparsely (sub)hirtellous and the larger veins beneath and the petiole bear brown uncinate hairs; the leaves are usually larger. A second subspecies, subsp. amplicoma (Ducke) C.C. Berg is found in the Upper Amazon Basin.