Cupania scrobiculata

Primary tabs

Cupania scrobiculata

Description

Shrub, “treelet” or small tree 3-15 (20) m tall, young stems ferruginous-tomentose or tomentulose. Leaves paripinnate or imparipinnate; petiole plus rachis 8-20.5(29) cm long, glabrous to pubescent, smooth or striate, terete to slightly angled, petiole sometimes abaxially flattened; petiolules 1-10 mm long, glabrous; leaflets (2)5-9, alternate or opposite, chartaceous to coriaceous, the adaxial surface glabrous, the abaxial surface glabrous or puberulent, with prominent reticulate venation, elliptic, broadly elliptic, oblong, oblanceolate or less often obovate, 5-23 × 3-9.2 cm, the apex obtuse, acute or shortly acuminate, or sometimes rounded and retuse, the base slightly asymmetrical, obtuse, the margins remotely serrate, entire, subentire, repando-dentate, and undulate, secondary vein axils with pit domatia. Thyrses 10-30 cm long, racemose or paniculate, pubescent; flowers in simple or compound dichasia, or solitary toward distal portion of inflorescence; bracteoles subulate or oblong, ca. 1 mm long, tomentulose. Sepals tomentulose, oblong, 1.5-2.2 mm long; petals cuneate, unguiculate, ca. 2 mm long, glabrous except for the pubescent claw; appendages of two suprabasal, marginal projections, wooly-pubescent, as long as the petal; disc annular, irregularly lobed, glabrous; stamens 8, ca. 3 mm long, the filaments wooly at base. Capsules turbinate-trilobed, stipitate, wrinkled, ferruginous, reddish orange, 3-locular, the cocci elongated divergent, 5-10 cm long, wooly-pubescent inside, the stipe 2-10 mm long. Seeds nearly ellipsoid, dark brown, mostly covered by a white or cream aril.

Distribution

French Guiana present, Guyana present, Suriname present, lowlands of the Neotropics present
Widely distributed in the lowlands of the Neotropics, in Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana (GU: 3; SU: 2; FG: 7).

Common Name

English (French Guiana): encens-blanc, gangouti; English (Guyana): bread-and-cheese, bread-tree, kuleshiri, white kulishiri; English (Suriname): Koelesiri-konokidikoro, djoendjoe-oeba, gawetrie, gawtri, kottotikie, witte-gauetrie, zuarte-gautrie

Notes

A highly variable species, previously recognized as containing three varieties based on leaflet shape and fruit size. However, an analysis of available collections does not support the recognition of infraspecific taxa as the differences are blurred by the occurrence of intermediate forms.