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Carapa.org - longipetala

Carapa longipetala Kenfack sp. nov.

Ref. Kenfack D. & Peréz Á.J. (2011) Two new species of Carapa (Meliaceae) from Western Ecuador. Systematic Botany, 36, 124-128.

Type

The type was collected in at the limit of the Reserva Ehnica Awá,  in Esmeraldas, Equator. 01º13'46.9"N, 78º39'06.2"W, 139 m, 26 Mar. 2007, fl, D. Kenfack & E. Narvaez 2159.

Tree and leaves

A small to medium-sized tree to 25 m tall, 30 cm dbh, single stemmed when young, becoming branched with age, buttresses low to 1m tall; bark whitish; branches spreading. Leaves 50—75 cm long, with petiole 15—30 cm long,  0.7—0.9 cm in diameter, base swollen, generally with 2 nectaries; rachis 30—48 cm long, glabrous; leaflets in 5—7 pairs, with petiolule 1—1.5 cm long; blade  15—27 cm long, 7—13 cm wide in basal leaflet pairs; 25—72 cm long and 9—20 cm wide in ultimate pairs, glabrous beneath, oblong, the apex shortly cuspidate, not mucronate, the base rounded; midrib prominent beneath, glabrous, secondary veins 9—23 on each side, network of tertiary venation loose and inconspicuous. (Photo: © David Kenfack, CTFS, Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University).

Inflorescence and flowers

Inflorescence are located in the axils of fully developped or reduced scale-like leaves, are 18 to 45 cm long, erect, and peduncle length is between 2 and 11 cm long, lowermost branches up to 2 cm long. Flowers are 4-merous and distinctly pedicellate, the pedicel being 2.5 to 4 mm long, glabrous. Calyx are 4-lobed, green, and glabrous with lobes being 1.3 to 1.8 mm long. Petals are 4 and 7 to 9 mm long, 4 to 7 mm wide, green, and glabrous. (Photo: © David Kenfack, CTFS, Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University).

Fruit and seeds

Fruit are between 18 and 22 cm long and 20—24 in diameter. They are elliptic to widely globose in shape, not beaked, light brown and have  4 valved that lack ribs, but with warty excrescences and nectaries.

Seeds are 4 to 6 cm in length, 4 to 8 cm in width, and up to 6 per valve The hilum is 2 to 5.5 mm long x (1—)2—3.8 mm wide. Testa is whitish, smooth.

Phenology

Distribution

Western Ecuador, in Lowland forest, generally below 600 m altitude.

Notes

Carapa longipetala, like C. alticola, has been confused with C. guianensis in Western Ecuador. The former has distinctly pedicellate flowers which separates it from the two latter which have sessile to subsessile flowers. Furthermore C. guianensis and C. alticola have whitish floral nectaries (also known as disk) unlike C. longipetala which has orange to red nectaries. The seeds in C. longipetala, up to six per valve, are more angular compared to those of C. nicaraguensis which are more rounded and only two per valv. C. megistocarpa is sympatric with C. longipetala in the Reserva Ethnica Awá.

Reference

Kenfack, D. (2011) A synoptic revision of Carapa (Meliaceae). Harvard Papers in Botany 16 (2): 171-231.

Kenfack D. & Peréz Á.J. (2011) Two new species of Carapa (Meliaceae) from Western Ecuador. Systematic Botany, 36, 124-128.