Trichilia acuminata (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Roem. & Schult.) C.DC.

Pennington, Terence D., 2016, Systematic Treatment Of American Trichilia (Meliaceae), Phytotaxa 259 (1), pp. 18-162 : 124-125

65. Trichilia acuminata (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Roem. & Schult.) C.DC. in A. & C.DC., Monogr. Phan. 1: 704 (1878); T.D.Penn., Fl. Neotrop. 28: 213 (1981). Map 73

Odontandra acuminata Humb. & Bonpl. ex Roem. & Schult., Syst. Veg , ed, 15, 5: xli, 5ll (1819). Type :— COLOMBIA. Bolívar near Turbaco, fl., Bonpland 1457 (holotype, B, n.v.; isotype, P-Bonpl.).

Trichilia oligofoliolata Morales-Puentes, Rev. Acad. Col. Cienc. Fis. Nat. 22(82): 343 (1998). Type:— COLOMBIA. Tolima, Municipio Méndez, Finca Bremen, Mendoza, Repizzo & Gordillo 1070 (holotype, FMB n.v., isotypes, COL, FMB n.v.).

For synonymy see FN 28: 213 (1981). Illustration: FN 28: 212, fig. 45 (1981).

Abbreviated Description. Indumentum of minute appressed dibrachiate or medifixed hairs, leaves unifoliolate, 10–17 cm long, elliptic, glabrous, inflorescence 2–10 cm long, a spike or panicle with spikate branches, petals 5–6, ca. 2 mm long, fused for ca. 1/2 their length, valvate, filaments completely fused in a staminal tube, margin with 5–6 short lobes, anthers 5–6, nectary absent; ovary densely puberulous, 3-locular, locules with 2 collateral ovules; capsule 1–1.6 cm long, 3-valved, narrowly obovoid or ellipsoid, smooth, granular-papillose intermixed with stiff hairs, seeds 1–2, completely surrounded by a thin fleshy arillode.

Field Characters. Treelet or small tree to 10 m high and 10 cm diam, flowers white or pale cream, and fruit maturing red; seed surrounded by a red arillode; flowering recorded in April, May and July, ripe fruit August to October.

MAP 73. Distribution of Trichilia acuminata (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Roem. & Schult.) C.DC. Solid dots, distribution pre-1981, open dots new records 1981–2010.

Distribution & Ecology. Eastern Panama and Colombia, in moist rain forest and in tropical dry forest over limestone, where it is associated with Tabebuia , Sideroxylon and Manilkara chicle , up to 600 m elevation.

Additional Collections Examined. PANAMA. Panamá: S of Ipeti, Serrania de Majé (NW0877), Knapp et al. 4557 (F, MO).

COLOMBIA. Bolívar: Municipio San Juan, Cerro de Maco (?NW1075), Cuadros 1898 ( US); Loma de Los Colorados, Municipio San Juan Nepemuceno (NW0975), Gentry & Cuadros 57459 (MO, US); Municipio Cartagena, Hacienda Canalete (NW1075), Zarucchi & Cuadros 4102 (K, NY). Cundinamarca: Municipio Pandi, Vereda El Guarumo (NW0574), Pedraza & Galeano 103 (MO). Sucre: Coloso, Estación de Primates (NW0975), Gentry & Cuadros 68111 (MO).

Note. Most specimens have entirely glabrous leaves, but some species from dry forest have stiff, erect pubescence along the midrib on the underside of the leaf.