Tovomita divaricata Maguire

16. Tovomita divaricata Maguire View in CoL in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 75: 434. 1948. – Lectotype (designated here): Guyana, Mahdia creek , Kakaralli-Clump wallaba forest, on lateritic ironstone soil, Potaro river at 108 mile, Bartica-Potaro road, 27 Jun 1942, D. B. Fanshawe ( F742 ) 3478 (NY [ NY00579017 ]!; isolectotype: K [ K000488511 ]!).

Description — Trees up to 15 m tall, prop roots and exudate not seen. Petioles 1.2–1.8 cm long, coloration not seen, smooth, lenticels absent. Leaf blades 10–17 × 3.5– 5 cm, purplish-red in sicco, black dots absent, subcoriaceous, elliptic to oblong, base decurrent, apex acuminate, sometimes straight; papillae, lenticels and fungal spots absent; exudate canals inconspicuous. Venation: secondary veins 8–10 pairs, 10–15 mm apart from each other, forming angle c. 75° to midvein, immersed adaxially, prominent abaxially, arcuate near margin; intersecondary veins present, one or two per intercostal area, thinner than secondary veins, parallel to major secondary,> 50 % of subjacent secondary length; tertiary veins percurrent sinuous to perpendicular; intramarginal vein absent. Inflorescences: ♂ lax cyme with 5 basal branches and up to 14 flowers, lacking terminal flower, dichasia reduced lacking central flower, ♀ not seen, calyptrae and lenticels absent. Pedicels 6–8 mm long, green, distal and proximal portion with same gauge, not articulated or proximally articulated, calyptrae and lenticels absent. Floral buds 6–11 mm long, oblong, apex prolonged into truncate or retuse apex. Sepals 4, 6–11 × 4 mm, oblong, apex prolonged into truncate or retuse apex or acute, pale green; petals 4, 7.5–10 × 3.5 mm, oblong, patent, apex acute, coloration not seen. Staminate flowers: stamens 25–30, 3–5 mm long, heterodynamous; filaments terete, coloration not seen; anthers 0.5–0.75 mm long, connective not exceeding thecae; pistillode not seen. Pistillate flowers and capsules not seen.

Iconography — Illustration available in Maguire (1948: 435).

Distribution — Guyana (Demerara-Mahaica). Fig. 30.

Conservation status — Data Deficient (DD, Marinho & Beech 2019).

Nomenclatural notes — Bassett Maguire was a research- er at New York Botanical Garden from 1943 to 1971. For the lectotype of Tovomita divaricata , described in 1948, we choose the NY specimen, because it was certainly examined by him .

Recognition and discussion — Tovomita divaricata is known only by the type collection. The species can be readily distinguished from the other species by the inflorescence with reduced dichasia lacking the central flower, and oblong floral buds with the apex prolonged, and with a truncate or retuse apex. The reduced dichasia also occur in T. stylosa , a Chocó /Mesoamerican endemic species. Tovomita divaricata can be distinguished from T. stylosa by the flowers with 4 sepals and 25–30 stamens/staminodes (vs 2 sepals and 45–50 stamens/staminodes), and the leaves drying dark brown (vs greenish).