Tovomita caloneura A. C. Sm.

7. Tovomita caloneura A. C. Sm. View in CoL in Lloydia   GoogleMaps 2: 197. 1939. – Lectotype (designated here): Guyana, [Potaro-Siparúni], in dense forest on high land near mouth of Onoro creek, basin of Essequibo river, 01°35'N, [58°40'W], 18 Dec 1937, A. C. Smith 2720 (NY [ NY00579002 ]!; isolectotypes: A [ A00067909 ]!, F [ F0054534 F] photo!, G [ G00355490 ] photo!, K [ K000488515 ]!, MO [ MO279714 ] photo!, P [ P00093858 ]!, S [ S11-35973 ] photo!, U [ U0002432 ] photo!, US [US00114290] photo!, WIS [ WIS00000753 About WIS MAD] photo!, WIS [ WIS00000754 About WIS MAD] photo!).

Description — Trees up to 20 m tall, prop roots inconspicuous; exudate yellow, abundant. Petioles 18–35 mm long, smooth, green, lenticels absent. Leaf blades 10–17 × 4.5–10.5 cm, green-greyish to blackened in sicco, black dots absent, chartaceous, obovate, base decurrent, apex convex to acuminate, sometimes retuse; usually with fungal spots abaxially, papillae and lenticels absent; exudate canals inconspicuous. Venation: secondary veins c. 26 pairs, 2–5 mm apart from each other, forming angle 55°– 65° to midvein, immersed in both surfaces, straight near margin; intersecondary veins present, two or more per intercostal area, similar to secondary veins, parallel to major secondary,> 50 % of subjacent secondary length; tertiary veins inconspicuous; intramarginal vein present. Inflorescences: ♂ usually congested cyme with 3–5 basal branches and up to 15 flowers, lacking terminal flower, ♀ dichasium, lenticels absent. Pedicels 4–12 mm long, green, not articulated, calyptrae and lenticels absent. Floral buds 5–11 mm long, spheroid, apex apiculate, lenticels absent, blackened in sicco. Sepals 2, c. 7.5–11 × 5–11 mm, circular, apex rounded, slightly woody, green; petals 4, 4.5–6.5 × 8.5–9 mm, oblong, inner ones patent, apex rounded, greenish to pale yellow. Staminate flowers: stamens 50–60, 3–5.5 mm long, heterodynamous; filaments dorsiventrally compressed, white; anthers 0.7– 0.9 mm long, connective wide, not over thecae; pistillode c. 2 mm in diam. Pistillate flowers not seen. Capsules fleshy, 2–3.5 × 1.5–2.3 cm, 5-septate, fusiform when closed, not costate or lobed, 5-angular, rostrum present, 6–9 mm long, epicarp smooth, lenticels absent, green when immature, light green when mature, mesocarp coloration not seen; sepals, petals and staminodes caducous, stigmas persistent. Aril orange. Fig. 22.

Distribution — Brazil (Amazonas, Pará), French Guiana (Saint-Élie), Guyana (Potaro-Siparuni). Fig. 23.

Conservation status — Least Concern (LC).

Nomenclaturalnotes — TheNYspecimen ( NY00579002 ) was chosen as the lectotype as it was likely the main specimen used by A. C. Smith, who was curator of the NY from 1928 to 1940, to describe Tovomita caloneura . Moreover, it is the only specimen that was manually annotated by the describing author .

Recognition and discussion — Tovomita caloneura can be easily recognized by the large number of secondary veins (c. 26 pairs), obovate leaves, usually with fungal spots abaxially ( Fig. 22A), and inflorescences usually congested ( Fig. 22B). The floral buds are blackened in sicco, and usually enveloped by a large calyptra formed by connate bracts. The stamens (fl. ♂) and staminodes (fl. ♀) are short and dorsiventrally compressed. When sterile, T. caloneura may be confused with T. acutiflora and T. manauara , due to the large number of secondary veins. It can be distinguished from T. acutiflora by the spheroid (vs oblong) floral buds and fusiform (vs napiform to spheroid) fruits. Tovomita caloneura can be distinguished from T. manauara by the number of secondary veins (up to 26 pairs vs 25–36 pairs in T. manauara ) and fruit morphology (5-septate and fusiform vs 4-septate and turbinate in T. manauara ).

Selected specimens examined — BRAZIL: AMAZONAS: Manaus, Reserva Ducke, Acará, 30 Jun 1976, bud, O. P . Monteiro 1259 ( INPA!). PARÁ : trecho ramal perimetral Norte, km 24, BR 163 , 15 Niv 1985, fr., L. S . Coelho & al. 74 ( INPA!) . — FRENCH GUIANA: SAINT-ÉLIE: Interfluve Sinnamary / Counamama, 05°20'N, 53°00'W, 12 Feb 1988, sterile, B GoogleMaps . Riera & D. Sabatier 1806 ( B!) .