Pouteria torta (Martius 1838: 94) Radlkofer (1882: 333)

Völtz, Rafael R., Alves-Araújo, Anderson & Goldenberg, Renato, 2020, Native Species of Sapotaceae Juss. in Paraná, Brazil, Phytotaxa 430 (4), pp. 224-276 : 263

5.10 Pouteria torta (Martius 1838: 94) Radlkofer (1882: 333) . Figure 22

Treelet. Trunk section cylindrical, unbuttressed; bark dark-brown, fissured, fissure deep, short, V-shaped, oblique, ridges rounded or flattened; slash light yellow-orange, tangential section with longitudinal streaks, discoloured to dark yellow-orange, with abundant latex. Stems with young shoots ferrugineous, soon grayish-brown or grayish, not lenticellate, corky and cracked in irregular scales, angled at first, becoming rounded when older, young shoots hispid-tomentose, soon glabrous. Leaves clustered or loosely clustered at the stem apex. Petiole (6.0–)8.0–19.0 mm long, slightly grooved, hispid-tomentose or puberulent, seldom glabrescent. Leaf blade coriaceous, (4.5–)9.0–17.0 × (3.5–)6.0–9.0 cm, elliptic, wide-elliptic or narrow-obovate, apex rounded or weakly retuse, seldom emarginate, truncate or obtuse, base obtuse or cuneate, seldom truncate, adaxial surface puberulent, glabrescent or glabrous, but usually tomentose on midrib and secondaries, abaxial surface tomentose, venation eucamptodromous, midrib flat or slightly raised at the apex on the adaxial surface, raised on the abaxial surface, secondaries 13–19 pairs, straight and arcuate near the margin, parallel, flat or slightly raised on the adaxial surface, raised on the abaxial surface, intramarginal vein present, intersecondaries absent or poorly developed, tertiary veins percurrent, branches oblique, or loosely reticulate, flat or occasionally inconspicuous on the adaxial surface, raised on the abaxial surface, quaternary veins reticulate. Inflorescences ramiflorous, 1–9-flowered. Pedicel 0.0– 3.5 mm long, tomentose. Flowers androgynous, greenish or yellowish in vivo; calyx in 2 whorls of 2 sepals, 4.0– 6.7 mm long, the inner ones longer than the outer ones, elliptic, apex acute or obtuse, the outer ones with margin entire, abaxial surface tomentose, the inner ones with margin ciliate, abaxial surface sericeous-tomentose, both glabrous or with sparse hairs at the apex on the adaxial surface, the inner ones with a broad glabrous marginal stripe; corolla tubulose, glabrous, 6.9–9.5 mm long, tube longer tha the lobes, 4.3– 7.0 mm long, lobes 4, ca. 2.5 mm long, suborbiculate, apex rounded, margin sparsely ciliate; stamens 4, fixed halfway or in the upper third of the corolla tube, filaments 2.5–3.3 mm long, glabrous, anthers ca. 2.0 mm long, glabrous; staminodes 4, ca. 2.0 mm long, lanceolate, margin entire or sparsely ciliate; ovary 4-locular, 1.2–2.2 mm long, globose, style 6.3–8.3 mm long, glabrous, stigma simple or slightly lobed. Fruit ripening brown, ca. 5.9 × 5.1 cm, ovoid or globose, tomentose, hard thick outer pericarp, endocarp gelatinous, calyx persistent, 1-seeded. Seed ca. 3.1 × 1.9 cm, ellipsoid; testa smooth, shining; scar ca. 25 mm long, narrow, covering most of the seed length, narrow-oblong.

Selected material: — BRAZIL. Paraná: Campo Mourão, 19 July 2005, M.G. Caxambu 814 ( HCF). Campo Mourão, 24 March 2018, R.R. Völtz 1490 ( HCF, MBM, RB).

Additional selected material: — BRAZIL. São Paulo: Botucatu, 2 August 2010, I.S. Gottsberger 11-29672 ( MBM). Itapirana, August 1989, L.P. Queiroz 2382 ( MBM, HUEFS). Tocantins: Mateiros, 2 August 2010, M.G. Caxambú 3211 ( HCF).

In Paraná Pouteria torta has been found only in the Municipality of Campo Mourão, in Cerrado. Collected with flower buds in July and with fruits in March. It can be recognized by the deeply fissured corky bark with fissures oblique and spiralled, corky and cracked stems, the eucamptodromous venation with secondaries straight and arcuate near the margin, and the tangled hairs on the abaxial surface of the leaf. Specimens of Pouteria torta have been confused with P. bullata , because they share similar vegetative morphology, and with P. guianensis . The differences between P. torta and P. bullata are described under the latter. The specimens collected in Paraná belong to P. torta subsp. torta (according to Pennignton 1990), which differs from P. torta subsp. tuberculata by the indumentum with tangled hairs on the abaxial surface of the leaf (vs. stiff, erect two-branched hairs in P. torta subsp. tuberculata ), the leaves usually 7–15 cm long (vs. usually 15–45 cm long), rounded or emarginate apex (vs. narrowly attenuate to obtusely cuspidate apex), the higher order venation open-reticulate, with no clear distinction between tertiary and quaternary veins (vs. clearly differentiated into oblique tertiaries and finely reticulate quaternaries), and the smooth, densely pubescent fruit (vs. verrucose with hairy projections).

Conservation Status: —This species was listed as “Least concern” ( LC) by CNCFlora (2018). In Paraná P. torta is known from only one individual confined to a small patch of Cerrado surrounded by an urban area, which, until now, is not a protected area.

Figures

FIGURE 22. Pouteria torta.A. Habit. B. Bark. C. Slash. D.Abaxial surface of the leaf. E. Flower, longitudinal section. F.Adaxial surface of the corolla and detail of the sparsely ciliate margin. G. Lateral and frontal view of the seed. H. Fruit. I. Stem with flower buds. J. Detail of the indumentum. (A–D, G–H from R.R. Völtz 1490; E from M.G. Caxambú 3211; F from L.P. Queiroz 2382; I–J from M.G. Caxambú 814) (ov: ovary; sc: seed scar; st: stamen; stm: staminode).