Stryphnodendron excelsum Harms (1923: 64)

Scalon, Viviane Renata, Paula-Souza, Juliana De, Lima, Alexandre Gibau De & Souza, Vinicius Castro, 2022, A synopsis of the genus Stryphnodendron (Fabaceae, Caesalpinioideae, mimosoid clade), Phytotaxa 544 (3), pp. 227-279 : 243-244

8. Stryphnodendron excelsum Harms (1923: 64) .

— Type : COSTA RICA. Atlant. Küste, Savannen und Wälder am Rio Hondo, elev. 150–300 m, June 1903, Pittier 16997 (lectotype G 00367833!, designated here, isolectotypes US!, NY!)

Trees 10–40 m tall, rhytidome gray to grayish-white. Leaves with (5–)8–11 pairs of pinnae; (8–)10–16(–18) pairs of leaflets; petiolar nectary 1, verruciform with an elongated base; leaflets (8–)10–22(–37) × (7–)10–15(–20) mm, usually oblong-rhombic, distal leaflets usually obovate, proximal leaflets sometimes elliptic, chartaceous, discolor, upper surface usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely puberulent to sparsely pubescent, lower surface usually sparsely puberulent, sometimes puberulent to pubescent, unilateral tuft of trichomes on the lower surface present. Inflorescences of simple thyrsi, whitish to yellowish white; cymulae of geminate to ternate spikes; spikes 11–15 cm long. Flowers monoclinous, corolla tube glabrous to subglabrous, yellow-pubescent at the apex of the lobes, yellow. Fruit a nucoid legume, straight to slightly curved, turgid, seeds slightly prominent, valves subcoriaceous, inconspicuously nerved.

Vernacular names: — Vainilla, Vainillo , Guanacaste, Guinazo, Gallinazo ( Costa Rica); Guachipelín-colorado ( Nicaragua).

Nomenclatural notes: —According to Stafleu & Cowan (1979), Harms´s type specimens were deposited in B, but the type of S. excelsum was most probably destroyed during WWII as we could not find any specimen that matched the protologue. The duplicate deposited in G was selected as lectotype.

Remarks: — Stryphnodendron excelsum belongs to a group of Amazonian species bearing medium-sized leaflets, yellowish inflorescences and indumentum in calyx and corolla, distinguished by the features shown in table 5.

Distribution and habitat: — Stryphnodendron excelsum is exclusive of Central America, occurring in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, where it usually grows near watercourses, often in areas of tropical forest at low altitudes of the Atlantic coast. It is worth emphasizing that the scarcity of collections from Nicaragua may not be correlated with the low density of individuals, but rather due to the difficult access to the Atlantic coast covered by hygrophilous forests in an economically undeveloped region with a low population density ( Sutton 1989).

Conservation:—Least Concern (LC) [AOO= 92.000 km 2, EOO= 154,909.586 km 2].

Phenology: —This species was collected with flowers in December and from March to June, with immature fruits in January, August and with mature fruits in May.

Selected specimens examined: — COSTA RICA. Heredia: Corazón de Jesus, along Sarapiquí road, about 3 km northeast of Corazón de Jesus , 05 January 1974, fr., G.S. Hartshorn 1331 (F) . Puntarenas, 22 km to the South of San Isidro del General on the road to the Panarian border, 917’N, 8340’ W , 31 March 1993, fl., D.J. Maqueen & A. Macqueen 608 ( NY) .