Lecythis chartacea
View in CoL
clade (76% BS; Figs. 2A
View FIGURE 2
, 8
View FIGURE 8
)
This clade is distributed in Amazonian Venezuela, the Guianas, and in western to eastern Amazonian Brazil ( Huang, 2010). None of the morphological characters that were included in the analysis provide synapomorphies for this clade, and the only apparent morphological distinction for the clade is the more-or-less fusiform seeds with salient longitudinally oriented major veins and the areas between them with salient higher order veins ( Figs. 8F
View FIGURE 8
). These seeds differ from the smooth inter-venal areas of the seeds of the
L. ollaria
clade ( Fig. 9A–C
View FIGURE 9
), the dendritically arranged pattern and plane or impressed veins of the
L. poiteaui
clade ( Fig. 9M–P
View FIGURE 9
), and the hard seed coat of the
Bertholletia excelsa
clade ( Fig. 7G
View FIGURE 7
). Members of the
L. chartacea
clade possess an androecial hood with swept in appendages ( Figs. 8A, I, L
View FIGURE 8
) as do some of the species of the
L. poiteaui
( Fig. 6D
View FIGURE 6
) and
B. excelsa
( Fig. 7D
View FIGURE 7
) clades. The hood of the
L. ollaria
clade differs from these clades in its possession of a single coil ( Fig. 5A, G
View FIGURE 5
). In addition, zygomorphic-flowered species with these types of androecial hoods do not possess obvious vestigial stamen nectaries, like those of the
Eschweilera integrifolia
( Figs. 11B, F
View FIGURE 11
) and
E. parvifolia
( Figs 15B, H
View FIGURE 15
) clades and the outgroup genus
Couratari
. The presence of mucilage ducts in the ovary and/or the calyx lobes (character 17) is found in both the
L. poiteaui
( Figs. 6E, H, L
View FIGURE 6
) and
L. chartacea
clades but they are more common in the former clade; relatively long, obliquely oriented or geniculate styles occur in the
L. poiteaui
( Fig. 6G
View FIGURE 6
),
B. excelsa
( Fig. 7B
View FIGURE 7
), and
L. chartacea
( Figs. 8B, 8J
View FIGURE 8
) clades; indehiscent fruits are found in some of the species of the
L. poiteaui
,
B. excelsa
, and some of the species of the
L. chartacea
clades. Moreover, there are both dehiscent- and indehiscent-fruited species in the
L. poiteaui
and
L. chartacea
clades. In these clades, the fruits are of two types: they can be large with a relatively thin pericarp and fall to the ground without dehiscing (e.g.,
L. lurida
and
L. prancei Mori [1990b: 304]
, Fig. 6I
View FIGURE 6
) or the fruits dehisce but do not release the seeds, which are so large that they do not fall from the fruit (e.g.,
L. ibiriba ( Miers 1874: 236) Smith et al. [2013: 447]
, Fig. 6N
View FIGURE 6
). In the
Lecythis poiteaui
clade, regardless of fruit type (whether truly indehiscent or with seeds that remain stuck inside the fruit), the seeds are large, more-or-less round (i.e., not markedly longer than broad), have plane or slightly impressed, dendritic veins, and a vestigial ( Fig. 6P
View FIGURE 6
) aril or no sign of an aril ( Figs. 6J
View FIGURE 6
, 9M–P
View FIGURE 9
).
Indehiscent fruits of the
L. chartacea
clade are possessed by the riverine species
L. rorida
(mistakenly treated as a synonym of
L. chartacea
by Mori, 1990b), which has fruits that usually drop into the water with the non-arillate seeds trapped inside, and the terra firme species
L. gracieana S. A. Mori
(in Mori & Lepsch-Cunha 1995: 47) and
L. parvifructa S. A. Mori (1990b: 312)
, which have relatively small, single-seeded fruits that fall to the ground at maturity without dehiscing. All of the remaining species sampled in the
L. chartacea
clade have dehiscent fruits and seeds with well-developed basal arils.
Lecythis brancoensis
View in CoL
is sister to all other species of the
L. chartacea
View in CoL
clade ( Fig. 2A
View FIGURE 2
), but was included in
Lecythis
View in CoL
Section
Poiteaui
by Mori (1990b). It differs from other species of the
L. chartacea
View in CoL
clade in the presence of anthers or antherodes (character 32) on the innermost appendages of the androecial hood and the absence of a closed androecium (character 33). It was placed in
Lecythis sect. Poiteaui
based on the hypothesis that
L. brancoensis
View in CoL
is also bat-pollinated, which is supported by its unbranched terminal inflorescence and very large numbers of stamens, In addition,
L. brancoensis
View in CoL
shares a papillate abaxial leaf surface with the bat-pollinated
L. barnebyi
View in CoL
and
L. poiteaui
View in CoL
. In Huang et al. (2011),
L. brancoensis
View in CoL
was recovered as a clade with the two known bat-pollinated species of
Lecythis sect. Poiteaui
; however, the current study does not support the relationship between the bat-pollinated species of the
Lecythis poiteaui
View in CoL
clade ( Fig. 2A
View FIGURE 2
) and the hypothetical bat-pollinated
L. brancoensis
View in CoL
of the
L. chartacea
View in CoL
clade.
Eschweilera congestiflora
View in CoL
and
E. simiorum
View in CoL
were placed in
Eschweilera Section Eschweilera
by Mori & Prance (1990) but these two species possess features that are common for species of the
L. chartacea
View in CoL
clade, e.g., a non-coiled ligule (character 26; Fig. 8C, I, L
View FIGURE 8
), curved inward appendages arising from the apex of the ligule (character 31), a 4- locular ovary (character 39), and seeds with a basal aril (characters 47, 48; Fig. 9L
View FIGURE 9
). Mori et al. (2007) pointed out that these two species were placed in the wrong genus as indicated by molecular data. In this study, these two species are embedded in the
L. chartacea
View in CoL
clade, but new combinations will not be needed because they were originally described as
L. congestiflora Benoist (1915: 177)
View in CoL
and
L. simiorum Benoist (1915: 178)
View in CoL
( Fig. 2
View FIGURE 2
in Mori et al., 2007).
have more-or-less globose seeds, plane or impressed veins, and the overall dendritic venation pattern. Photos by S. A. Mori.