Conzattia Rose, Contrib. U.S. Natl. Herb. 12(9): 407. 1909.
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https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.240.101716 |
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https://treatment.plazi.org/id/007CD9D3-D2D3-8B3E-7C1F-C941C717C954 |
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scientific name |
Conzattia Rose, Contrib. U.S. Natl. Herb. 12(9): 407. 1909. |
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Conzattia Rose, Contrib. U.S. Natl. Herb. 12(9): 407. 1909. View in CoL
Figs 67 View Figure 67 , 68 View Figure 68 , 70 View Figure 70 , 74 View Figure 74
Type.
Conzattia arborea Rose [= Conzattia multiflora (B.L. Rob.) Standl.]
Description.
Unarmed, small to medium-sized tree, 3-10 (15) m, generally forking low down with a large spreading flat-topped ‘umbrella’ crown (Fig. 67L View Figure 67 ), the trunk 20-50 (75) cm in diameter, the bark thin, pale silver-grey (Fig. 67M View Figure 67 ), inner bark green, whole plant largely glabrous. Stipules minute. Leaves bipinnate, with 10-15 pairs of pinnae, 9-20 pairs of leaflets per pinna, leaflets oblong, apex acute, oblique at base. Inflorescences slender, erect, 6-12 (25) cm long axillary racemes clustered near branch tips, pedicels jointed just below the flower; bracts caducous. Flowers unisexual by reduction of the androecium or gynoecium, usually dioecious but some individuals carry both functionally male and female flowers; hypanthium shallowly campanulate; sepals 5, free, imbricate only in bud, strongly reflexed, subequal; petals 5, yellow, more or less equal (Fig. 68F View Figure 68 ); stamens 10, free, slightly shorter than petals, anthers dorsifixed, glabrous; pollen in oblate tricolporate monads with moderately reticulate surface ornamentation; ovary densely pubescent, stipitate, 6-ovuled (ovaries of functionally male flowers smaller, not fully developed), style filiform, usually straight in functionally female flowers, swan-necked in functionally male flowers, stigma ciliate. Fruits plano-compressed, glabrous, the margins narrowly winged, acuminate at apex, dehiscent along both sutures, (2) 3 (4)-seeded (Fig. 70J View Figure 70 ). Seeds oblong, 10-12 mm long, brown, albuminous.
Chromosome number.
Unknown.
Included species and geographic distribution.
Monospecific, endemic to seasonally dry western and southern Mexico from Sonora and Baja California Sur south to Chiapas (Fig. 74 View Figure 74 ).
Ecology.
Confined to seasonally dry tropical forest. Strongly deciduous, fruits ripening when leafless (Fig. 67L View Figure 67 ), and flowering preceding leaf flush.
Etymology.
Named in honour of the Italian-born Mexican botanist Cassiano Conzatti (1862-1951), a prodigious plant collector in Mexico and Chile and director of the Escuela Normal in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Human uses.
Conzattia has been listed as an important source of medicine and wood for construction and fuel, and immature fruits are used as a Hoffmannseggia minor food in Mexico ( Arellano 1987). The presence of seeds of Conzattia multiflora at several archaeological sites in south-central Mexico and the frequent occurrence of trees around pre-Colombian temple sites suggest use as a Hoffmannseggia minor food spanning several millennia ( Zárate 2000).
Notes.
Conzattia is robustly supported as sister to Heteroflorum (Fig. 66 View Figure 66 ; Haston et al. 2005; Ringelberg et al. 2022), both genera endemic to Mexico and sharing seasonally dry tropical ecology, and both with similar low, flat-topped tree crowns (Fig. 67J, L View Figure 67 ), smooth grey bark (Fig. 67K, M View Figure 67 ), yellow flowers and frequently at least partial dioecy, but readily distinguished by their radically different fruits (Fig. 70J-M View Figure 70 ). Three species of Conzattia have been described based on Hoffmannseggia minor differences in leaf indumentum, quantitative variation in leaf formula and stipules, none of which are fixed or correlated with geography, prompting recognition of a single somewhat variable species C. multiflora ( Haston 2003).
Taxonomic references.
Haston (2003); Lewis (2005b) with illustration; Standley (1922).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.