Trichilia blanchetii C.DC.

Pennington, Terence D., 2016, Systematic Treatment Of American Trichilia (Meliaceae), Phytotaxa 259 (1), pp. 18-162 : 95-96

42. Trichilia blanchetii C.DC. , in Mart., Fl. Bras. 11(1): 217 (1878); T. D.Penn., Fl. Neotrop. 28: 136 (1981). Type :— BRAZIL. Bahia , near Ilheus, fl., Blanchet 1884 (lectotype, K, (designated FN 28: 137 (1981); isolectotype, BM, G, NY, P). Map 48

For synonymy see FN 28: 136 (1981). Illustration: FN 28: 212, fig. 45 (1981).

Young branches slender, 2–5 mm diam., strigulose at first with minute dibrachiate hairs, soon glabrous, smooth, greyish-brown. Bud scales absent. Leaves unifoliolate, petiole 0.7–2 cm long, semiterete, subglabrous. Leaflets 7.3 × 3.5–14 × 6 cm, mostly broadly elliptic, less frequently oblong, apex shortly and narrowly attenuate, base narrowly attenuate to obtuse or rounded, chartaceous, glabrous, sometimes glandular-punctate and -striate; venation eucamptodromous or brochidodromous, midrib raised on the upper surface, secondaries 10–12 pairs, ascending, arcuate, parallel or slightly convergent, intersecondaries long, tertiaries obscure. Inflorescence axillary, 1–2 cm long, a small, few-flowered thyrse, sparsely strigulose or glabrous; pedicel 0.5–1 mm long. Calyx patelliform or shallowly cyathiform, 0.5–1 mm long, lobes 4–5, very shallow, subglabrous. Petals 4–5, 2.5–3 mm long, 0.75–1 mm broad, free, valvate or slightly imbricate, glabrous. Staminal tube ca. 1.25 mm long, ca. 1 mm broad, cyathiform or shortly cylindrical, glabrous or with a few hairs in the throat, filaments completely fused, margin with 7–8 short acute lobes alternating with the anthers and ca. 1/3 of their length; anthers 7–8, 0.5–0.8 mm long, glabrous. Nectary absent. Ovary 3-locular, ovoid, locules with 2 collateral ovules, sparsely appressed puberulous, style glabrous; style-head capitate, reaching the base of the anthers. Capsule ca. 1.8 × 1.1 cm, 3-valved, slender ellipsoid, rounded at apex and base, moderately tuberculate and with some sparse minute appressed indumentum; pericarp ca. 1 mm thick. Seeds 2, ca. 1.3 × 0.5 cm, plano-convex, rounded at apex and base, almost completely surrounded by a thick fleshy free arillode. Embryo with plano-convex, collateral cotyledons, radicle apical, included; endosperm absent.

MAP 48. Distribution of Trichilia blanchetii C.DC. Solid dots, distribution pre-1981, open dots, new records 1981–2010.

Field Characters. Treelet to 5m high; flowers whitish, fruit maturing rose-pink to bright magenta. Flowers recorded in April, ripe fruit in February.

Distribution & Ecology. Known with certainty only from southern Bahia, Brazil, where it occurs on forested hills in the transition zone between wet rain forest and restinga, elevational range 50– 450 m.

Additional Collections Examined. BRAZIL. Bahia: Municipio Ilheus, Olivença to Vila Brasil, 6 km SW of Olivença (SW1439), Lewis et al. 1178 (K); Jussarí, ca. 2.5 km N of Palmira, road to Itajú do Colonia (SW1539), Thomas et al. 11964 (K).

Note. Trichilia tweediana C.DC. In the Flora Neotropica (1981) account this was treated as a doubtful synonym of T. blanchetii . As no further material has been collected, its status remains unchanged. It is probably a 3-foliolate form of T. blanchetii .