Cordia rufescens De Candolle (1845: 476)

Melo, José Iranildo Miranda De, Paulino, Renan Da Cruz, Oliveira, Regina Célia De & Vieira, Diego Daltro, 2018, Flora of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil: Boraginales, Phytotaxa 357 (4), pp. 235-260 : 241-242

1.4. Cordia rufescens De Candolle (1845: 476) .

Shrubs to small trees, 2–10 m tall; branches sulcate, villous, trichomes simple. Leaves verticillate, homomorphic; blade 5.5–17.7 × 2–9 cm, chartaceous, brownish on upper surface, rufescent on lower surface, elliptic, rarely obovate, apex acute or rounded, margin entire or dentate at middle portion, villous, base cuneate, adaxially strigulose, abaxially tomentose pubescent; venation brochidodromous; petiole 0.3–1.7 cm long, sulcate, tomentose. Inflorescences 5.5–8.5 cm long, paniculiform, congested, terminal; peduncle 2.5–10 cm long. Flowers 3.7–4 cm long, sessile; calyx ca. 1 cm long, tubular, tomentose, rufescent, with filiform lobes ca. 2 mm long, lanceolate, apex acuminate; corolla tubular-salverform, cream to pale brown, deciduous; tube ca. 3 cm long; lobes ca. 0.7 cm long, rounded. Stamens with filaments ca. 8 mm long, anthers ca. 2.5 mm long, oblong, lobes divaricate, dorsifixed. Ovary ca. 3 mm long, subglobose; style ca. 5 mm long; stigmatic branches ca. 3 mm long, stigmas ca. 1 mm long, capitate. Drupe ca. 1.5 cm long, ovoid, blackish; seed not seen.

Notes:— Cordia rufescens is morphologically related to C. superba Cham. , sharing with it, among other features, leaf blades with dentate margin in the middle portion. It is distinguished from it by the indumentum of the calyx, tomentose in C. rufescens and glabrescent in C. superba ( Taroda 1987) . Illustrations of this species can be found in Melo & Andrade (2007).

Geographic distribution:— Occurs in the Northeast, Southeast, and South regions of Brazil ( Flora do Brasil 2020 under construction). C7, D1, D7.

Habitat:— Forests and coastal dunes.

Phenology:— Collected in flower in March, June, November, and December; in fruit in November and December.

Selected material examined:— BRAZIL. Rio Grande do Norte: Areia Branca - Canguaretama, 06º22’00”S, 35º09’40”W, November 1980, fl. fr., O.F. Oliveira et al. 1484 (MOSS). Natal, 05º47’42”S, 35º12’34”W, December 1994, fl. fr., M.E.O. Lins. s.n. (MOSS 5331). Portalegre, October 2007, fl., R.G.V. Camacho et al. 90 (MOSS). São José do Mipibu, 06º17’00”S, 38º24’22”W, March 2006, fl., O.F. Oliveira 5198 (MOSS).