Punjuba Britton & Rose, N. Amer. Fl. 23: 28. 1928.

Figs 247, 249

Type.

Punjuba racemiflora (Donn. Sm.) Britton & Rose [≡ Pithecellobium racemiflorum Donn. Sm.]

Description.

Shrubs and trees, unarmed. Stipules absent. Leaves bipinnate, extrafloral nectaries sessile, between the first pair of pinnae or along the leaf rachis, orbicular, patelliform, cupuliform; pinnae 1-3 pairs; leaflets 2-7 pairs, alternate, variable in size and shape. Inflorescences racemes or spiciform racemes. Flowers homomorphic, pedicellate or sessile; sepals 5, united; corolla gamopetalous, petals 5; stamens numerous, filaments fused into a tube, stemonozone present, anthers rimose; pollen in 18-grained polyads; ovary glabrous. Fruit a legume dehiscing through both margins, the valves chartaceous, curved to spiral, generally with a red endocarp, epicarp glabrous. Seeds obovate, orbicular or oblong, translucent, pleurogram absent.

Chromosome number.

2 n = 26 ( P. racemiflora) (Bawa 1973).

Included species and geographic distribution.

Five species in the Andean valleys of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, with P. racemiflora occurring in Costa Rica and Panama (Fig. 249).

Ecology.

Mainly in mountain and Andean forests and secondary rainforests.

Etymology.

An anagram of Jupunba Britton & Rose.

Human uses.

Firewood.

Notes.

Punjuba was described by Britton and Rose (1928), placed under synonymy in Abarema by Barneby and Grimes (1996), but was recently reinstated based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence (Soares et al. 2021). Although similar to Jupunba in fruit morphology, seeds lacking pleurogram (vs. pleurogram present), inflorescences always in spiciform racemes (vs. inflorescences in congested, lax or spiciform racemes), and leaflets with arched veins (vs. leaflets with straight veins) differentiate the two genera.

Taxonomic references.

Barneby and Grimes (1996); Britton and Rose (1928); Iganci et al. (2016); Soares et al. (2021).