Ficus aequatorialis Dugand (1942: 28)

Pederneiras, Leandro Cardoso, Mansano, Vidal De Freitas & Romaniuc-Neto, Sergio, 2017, Taxonomic synopsis of the Ficus sect. Pharmacosycea (Moraceae) from Colombia, Phytotaxa 313 (1), pp. 1-22 : 2-3

1. Ficus aequatorialis Dugand (1942: 28) .

Type :— COLOMBIA. Frontera colombo-ecuatoriana, Río San Miguel, entre Quebrada del Ocano y Río Teteyé, 7 December 1940, J. Cuatrecasas 10887 (holotype: COL!; isotypes: F! US!) .

Terrestrial trees, 8–12 m tall. Leaf blade 25–37 cm long, 14.5–19 cm wide, elliptic, apex acuminate, base cordate, glabrous adaxially, puberulent to glabrous abaxially, secondary veins 9–16 pairs; petiole 5.5–11 cm long, puberulent to glabrous, periderm flaking off; stipules 6–8 cm long, subpersistent, glabrous. Syconia in pairs, peduncle sessile; lateral bracts rarely seen; receptacle 1.5–2.2 cm in diam. when dry, hispid, apex rounded ( Fig. 1A ).

Distribution and habitat in Colombia: — Putumayo, in premontane rainforests on the eastern slope of the Andes at elevations of 250–600 m ( Fig. 2 ).

Selected specimens: — COLOMBIA. Putumayo: Mocoa, Mocoa, Camino Viejo San Antonio, Plowman 2030 (COL, US); San Antonio del Guamués, Cuatrecasas 11214 (COL, F).

Notes:— Ficus aequatorialis was synonymized under F. macbridei Standley (1937: 305) by Dewolf (1965), Berg & Villavicencio (2004) and Berg (2009), but we observed that the former species differs from the latter by stipule persistence (subpersistent in F. aequatorialis vs. caduceus in F. macbridei ), lateral bracts (absent or isolated vs. in whorls) and distribution (Cauca province vs. Yungas province).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Twigs with leaves and stipules. A. Ficus aequatorialis (Cuatrecasas 11214). B. F. apollinaris (Barbosa 1245). C,D. Ficus carchiana (McPherson 13393).

FIGURE 2. Distribution of Ficus aequatoriales, F. apollinaris, F. carchiana, F. crassiuscula, F. crassivenosa, F. dewolfii and F. dulciaria in Colombia based on herbarium specimens.