Guatteria anteridifera Scharf & Maas

Maas, P. J. M., Westra, L. Y. T., Guerrero, S. Arias, Lobão, A. Q., Scharf, U., Zamora, N. A. & Erkens, R. H. J., 2015, Confronting a morphological nightmare: revision of the Neotropical genus Guatteria (Annonaceae), Blumea 60 (1), pp. 1-219 : 33

11. Guatteria anteridifera Scharf & Maas — Map 3

Guatteria anteridifera Scharf & Maas in Scharf et al. (2008) 517, f. 1–3. — Type: Sabatier & Prévost 5047 (holo U 2 sheets; iso CAY), French Guiana, km 122.5 of road from Cayenne to Saint Georges, near ‘ Savane Roche Virginie’, 27 July 2006.

Tree up to c. 40 m tall, 50–80 cm diam, with buttresses up to c. 2 m high and c. 80 cm at the base, limbs decurrent; young twigs densely covered with appressed, silvery hairs, soon glabrous. Leaves: petiole 15–20 mm long, 2–3 mm diam, winged; lamina obovate to narrowly oblong-elliptic, 9–21 by 5–8 cm (leaf index 1.8–2.7), coriaceous, scabridulous, dull, greyish to greenish brown above, dark brown below, glabrous above, sparsely covered with appressed hairs below, base long-attenuate, apex shortly acuminate (acumen 3–10 mm long), primary vein impressed above, secondary veins distinct, 12–16 on either side of primary vein, slightly impressed above, smallest distance between loops and margin 2–3 mm, tertiary veins inconspicuous, flat above, reticulate. Flowers in 1(–2)-flowered inflorescences in axils of leaves; flowering and fruiting pedicels 10–15 mm long, 1– 2 mm diam, densely to rather densely covered with appressed, silvery hairs, articulated at 0.2–0.3 from the base, bracts 5 –6, soon falling, broadly to very broadly ovate at the base, 1–2 mm long, other bracts not seen; flower buds not seen; sepals free, broadly ovate-triangular, 5–6 by 5–6 mm, reflexed, outer side densely covered with appressed, silvery hairs; petals yellowish green in vivo, elliptic, oblong-elliptic, to obovate, 21–23 by 10–13 mm, outer side densely covered with appressed, short, silvery hairs; stamens c. 1 mm long, con- nective shield hairy, umbonate. Monocarps c. 4, green in vivo (immature ones), greyish to blackish brown in sicco, ellipsoid, 20–25 by 8–11 mm, apex sparsely covered with appressed hairs, apex apiculate (apiculum 1–1.5 mm long), wall c. 1 mm thick, stipes 5–8 by 1–1.5 mm. Seed ellipsoid, 16–19 by 7–9 mm, pale to dark brown, rugulose to transversely grooved, raphe impressed.

Distribution — French Guiana, Amazonian Brazil (Amapá).

Habitat & Ecology — In non-inundated, primary forest. At about sea level. Flowering: July, August; fruiting: November.

Vernacular names — Not recorded.

Note — Guatteria anteridifera is well marked by large buttresses of up to 2 m high. It seems similar to some species of sect. Mecocarpus (e.g., G. blepharophylla ), but it completely lacks the verruculose structures so typical for that section. Instead, it has scabridulous leaves which are covered with minute, circular structures. It perhaps comes closest to the Guyanan endemic G. paludosa , but that species lacks the buttresses, has much larger leaves (30–55 cm vs 9–21 cm long in G. anteridifera ), long-acuminate vs shortly acuminate leaves (acumen 10–45 mm vs 3–10 mm long in G. anteridifera ) and larger stamens (2–3 mm vs 1 mm long in G. anteridifera ).