Garcinia albuquerquei (M.E.Berg) Bittrich, 2017

Cabral, Fernanda Nunes, Bittrich, Volker & Hopkins, Michael John Gilbert, 2017, Clusiaceae s. l. (Calophyllaceae, Clusiaceae s. s. and Hypericaceae) in the Viruá National Park, Roraima, Brazil, Phytotaxa 329 (1), pp. 1-27 : 15

4.1 Garcinia albuquerquei (M.E.Berg) Bittrich , comb. nov.

Type:— BRAZIL. Amazonas: Rio Negro, Ilha Gavião, “near mouth of Rio Branco”, 5 July-August 1967, fr., Schultes 24535 (holotype: INPA, barcode 20707). Fig. see Van den Berg (1979).

= Rheedia albuquerquei M.E. Berg (1975: 285) .

Trees up to 5 m. Exudate cream, not abundant. Branches with scars from fallen inflorescences. Lamina strongly coriaceous, oblong to elliptical or obovoid, (5.5–)6.5–12.5 × (3.0–) 3.4–8.3 cm, apex emarginate, base emarginate or rounded; base of lamina with a prominent adaxial margined pit, sessile; exudate channels not visible; midvein strongly prominent on both surfaces, especially on the basal part; secondary veins prominent, conspicuous on both surfaces, 15–24 pairs, distant 2–5 mm. Inflorescences axillary. Flowers not seen. Fruit elliptical, rostrate, 2.5 × 1.7 cm, stigmas persistent. Seeds cylindrical, 10.0 × 0.4 mm, surrounded by mesocarp pulp.

Phenology:—Flowering not known; fruiting July to November.

Distribution and habitat:—In Brazil, in the north region (states of Amazonas and Roraima). In VNP, it is found in white-sand vegetation at the margin of a tributary of the Rio Branco. The species was considered endemic to the Middle and Upper Rio Negro region, but our collection represents a new record of this species for the state of Roraima.

Specimens examined:— BRAZIL. Roraima: Caracaraí, Viruá National Park , elevation 62 m, 1º22’03’’N, 60º59’13’’W, 30 September 2011, fr., Cabral et al. 430 ( UEC) ; Ibid., 30 September 2011, fr., Cabral et al. 431 ( UEC) .

Taxonomic notes:—The Neotropical species of Garcinia were formerly included in Rheedia . Robson (1958) suggested there was no basis for maintaining Rheedia separate from Garcinia . Stevens (2007) supported Robson’s view and considered Rheedia as a synonym of Garcinia , and Sweeney (2008) confirmed that the recognition of Rheedia would leave Garcinia paraphyletic. As a result, new combinations of Rheedia species were necessary. This was followed by the work of Zappi (1993), who created the combination Garcinia gardneriana (Planchon & Triana) Zappi for Rheedia gardneriana Planchon & Triana and Hammel (1989) who created new combinations for numerous Central American species of Rheedia .

Garcinia albuquerquei is easily recognized by its angled branches, sessile lamina and the prominent margined pit at the base of the leaf blade. There is no description of flowers as we did not find any fertile specimens in the field. Flowers were also not available for the original species description by Van den Berg (1975) or the revision of Rheedia ( Van den Berg 1979) .

5 Platonia Martius (1829: 168) , nom. cons.

Type: Platonia insignis Maritus (1829: 169) .

Trees; exudate yellow or cream. Perulae present, protecting the terminal buds, resulting later in groups of scars on the branches. Leaves opposite, secondary veins conspicuous; exudate channels conspicuous. Flowers hermaphrodite, terminal, solitary and showy; sepals 5, petals 5, contorted. Stamens numerous, in fascicles; anthers ± locellate. Ovary with 5 locules, with several ovules per locule, style 5-radiate, stigma 5. Fruit a berry. Seeds 5.

Neotropical; with two species ( Kearns 1998b) and one species in Brazil ( BFG 2015).