Carapichea araguariensis (Steyerm.) C.M.Taylor (Taylor and Gereau 2013: 120)

Lachenaud, Olivier & Delprete, Piero, 2022, Revision of Carapichea (Rubiaceae - Psychotrieae) in the Guianas, with two new combinations and transfer of three species to Notopleura, Plant Ecology and Evolution 155 (2), pp. 275-300 : 275

2. Carapichea araguariensis (Steyerm.) C.M.Taylor (Taylor and Gereau 2013: 120)

Psychotria araguariensis Steyerm. ( Steyermark 1972: 588)

Type.

BRAZIL - Amapá • Araguari River, Camp 12; 1°11'N, 52°08'W; 30 Sep. 1961; fl.; Murça Pires et al. 51371; holotype: NY [00132598] .

Description.

Shrub, 0.5-1.0 m tall, or treelet 2-5 m tall, glabrous; terminal branchlets terete, 2-4 mm in diam., soon covered with a greyish bark. Stipules shortly sheathing, truncate to very broadly ovate, 1-4 × 4.0-5.5 mm, entire and obtuse at apex, glabrous, soon corky and fragmenting. Leaves with petioles 0.7-2.5 cm long, glabrous; blades elliptic, to oblong-oblanceolate, 11-25 × 3.5-7.5 cm, acute-decurrent at base, acute and acuminate at apex, acumen narrowly triangular, 0.5-1.5 cm long, subcoriaceous to coriaceous when fresh, drying papyraceous to subcoriaceous, grey-green to olive brown, glabrous throughout; secondary veins 13-25 on each side of midrib, weakly ascending and hardly more prominent than the intersecondary veins, arching at 0.5-1.0 mm from the margin; intersecondary veins (1-)2-3 between each couple of secondary veins, terminating far from the margin; tertiary veins obsolete; domatia absent. Inflorescence compact-paniculate at early stage, expanding and becoming obviously paniculate at later stage, many-flowered, pedunculate; peduncles 4.5-9.5 cm long, glabrous or with distal portion puberulous, drying olive green to pale brown; secondary branches verticillate, 2-4 per node, 0.7-3.0 cm long, glabrous to puberulous, terminating into cymules; outer branches of cymules with bracts; bracts 2-5 in each cymule, subequal to unequal, narrowly elliptic to linear, longer ones 7-17 × 1-2 mm, shorter ones 4.0-4.5 × 0.7-1.2 mm, persistent or tardily caducous, drying olive green to brown, glabrous. Flowers 5-merous, (heterostylous?), sessile or with pedicel <0.5 mm long during anthesis, elongating to 1-5 mm long at fruiting stage. Hypanthium narrowly obovoid, 0.7-1.0 mm long, glabrous. Disk bilobed to the base, 0.5 mm long, glabrous. Calyx cupular, 0.7-1.3 mm long, truncate or minutely denticulate, glabrous. Corolla infundibuliform, 14.5-16 mm long, glabrous, white ( “orange” according to Pires et al. 51371), tube narrowly obconical, 11-12 mm long, 1.5 mm wide at base, 3.5-4.0 mm wide at mouth, glabrous outside and inside; lobes lanceolate, 3.0-3.5 × 1.2-1.3 mm, acute at apex, glabrous, bearing dorsal linear cornicula 0.3-0.7 mm long. Stamens inserted just below the corolla mouth, filaments 0.5 mm long, anthers subsessile, half-exserted, narrowly oblong, 2.3-3.0 × 0.3-0.6 mm. Style glabrous, barely exserted, 14.5-16.5 mm long. Fruits elliptic to ovoid, 6.5-10 × 5.5-8.5 mm, slightly costate when dry, green when young, orange or yellow at maturity. Pyrenes plano-convex, ellipsoid in outline, 6-9 × 4.5-5.5 mm, dorsal side with 3 prominent longitudinal ridges, ventral side with a shallow longitudinal groove. Seeds with a deep T-shaped ventral furrow.

Distribution.

Only known from northern Brazil ( Amapá, Pará, and Amazonas states); to be expected in French Guiana.

Ecology.

In understory of moist, non-flooded forest, at 50-125 m elevation.

Phenology.

The flowering type specimen from Amapá state was collected in September; in Amazonas state, flowering specimens were collected in February and March, and fruiting specimens in February and August.

Selected specimens examined.

BRAZIL - Amazonas • Reserva Florestal Ducke, Estrada Manaus-Itacoatiara, km 26, floresta de campinarana; 2°53'S, 59°58'W; 13 Feb. 1996; fl., fr.; Campos et al. 481; INPA, MO, NY • Mun. Manaus, Distrito Agropecuario da SUFRAMA, Rod. BR-174, km 72, depois 6 km W da BR, Fazenda Dimona , mata de terra firme sobre latosolo amarelo; 2°19'S, 60°5'W; 50-125 m; 25 Mar. 1992; fl.; Dick 62; INPA • estrada Manaus-Caracaraí, km 125, igarapé da Lage, terra firme; 13 Feb. 1974; fr.; Loureiro et al. s.n. (INPA 47925); INPA • ibid., 14 Feb. 1974; fl.; Loureiro et al. s.n. (INPA 47947); INPA • Distrito Agropecuário, Reserve 1501 (km 41) of the Smithsonian /INPA Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project ; 2°24- 2°25'S, 59°43 ’-59°45’; 15 Jul. 1990; fr.; Mori & Costa Lima Assunção 21383; K • Reserva Florestal Ducke, Manaus-Itacoatiara km 26; 2°53'S, 9°58'W; 16 Jun. 1994; fr.; Ribeiro & Assunção 1325; K • Manaus, km 68 da Estrada Manaus-Itacoatiara, sub-bosque de terra firme; 19 Mar. 1963; fl.; Rodrigues 4985; INPA • Reserva Florestal Ducke, Estrada Manaus-Itacoatiara, km 26, floresta de baixo, solo arenoso; 2°53'S, 59°58'W; 3 Feb. 1995; fl.; Vicentini et al. 840; INPA, K, MG, MO, NY, U • ibid., 31 May 1995; fr.; Vicentini et al. 984; K . - Pará • Mun. Anajas, opposite to town of Anajas, on Rio Anajas ; 31 Oct. 1984; fl.; Sobel et al. 4943; MG, MO n.v .

Notes.

No records of this species are known from the Guianas to date, but due to its occurrence in the Brazilian state of Amapá, it may well be found in adjacent French Guiana, and is therefore included in this treatment. Carapichea araguariensis resembles C. ligularis but has laxer inflorescences with the basal bracts inserted at the end of the secondary branches (vs at the end of the peduncle). The bracts are also usually smaller and more distinctly unequal than in C. ligularis , and the corolla tube is longer. This species also resembles C. necopinata from Brazil (Amazonas state), but the latter has an inflorescence with only three glomerules and outer bracts 20-25 mm long, while in C. araguariensis the inflorescence has at least five glomerules and outer bracts 7-17 mm long. See also the notes under C. sp. A below. Due to the rarity of flowering specimens, it is not known whether the flowers are heterostylous. In the few flowers that we analyzed, the stamens are included and the style is barely exserted, which is consistent with a long-styled form.