Otoba gracilipes (Smith) Gentry (1979: 417)

Jaramillo-Vivanco, Tatiana S. & Balslev, Henrik, 2020, Revision of Otoba (Myristicaceae), Phytotaxa 441 (2), pp. 143-175 : 160-161

Otoba gracilipes (Smith) Gentry (1979: 417) .

Basionym: Dialyanthera gracilipes Smith (1957: 320) .

Type:— COLOMBIA. El Valle: Pacific Coast, Río Cajambre , Quebrada de Guapecito, 0–5 m, Cuatrecasas 17708, staminate (holotype: A!; isotype: COL-photo, F!) .

Petiole 15–25 × 1–2 mm, narrowly winged; lamina 10–13 × 4–5 cm, usually whitish and glabrescent below; secondary veins 8–14 per side; intramarginal veins absent. Staminate inflorescence sessile; partial inflorescences 2, pubescent, ca. 10-flowered; umbelliform parts alternate, 4–10 flowers; bracteoles absent. Staminate flowers with pedicel 1–3(–9) mm long; perianth 3–5 mm long, inner surface smooth, rarely spongy, without a swollen ring at base; androecium 2.0– 3.3 mm long; filament column bottle-shaped, fused but somewhat divergent distally; anthers reniform, apex somewhat incurved, basally attached to the filaments apex, 0.6–0.8 mm long. Pistillate inflorescence similar to the staminate one, but partial inflorescences 2–5. Pistillate flowers similar to staminate ones, with perianth 3.5–5.0 mm long; gynoecium 2.5–2.9 mm long; ovary glabrous, ellipsoidal, ca. 2.0 × 1.5 mm long; stigmatic lobes fused along one side. Infructescence with 1–2 fruits. Fruit 3.0–3.5 × 2.5 cm, globose, apex obtuse to mucronate; pericarp 3–4 mm thick; aril red; seed ca. 2 cm diam, with prickles.

Representative specimens examined:— COSTA RICA. Alajuela: NE base of Arenal Volcano, 5 km W of Fortuna, San Carlos, Lent 2526 ( NY). Heredia: Field Station Finca La Selva, Puerto Viejo, Sarapiquí, Hartshorn 1310 ( F). San José: Los Espaveles–Catie–Turrialba, Poveda et al. 3793 ( F). PANAMA. Coclé: Vicinity of El Valle de Antón, Allen 2004 ( F, NY). Panamá: Cerro Campana, Croat 25225 ( AAU, NY). COLOMBIA. Antioquia: Sitio Rio Surambay, 12 km N de Mutata, 1987, Callejas Posada 5752 ( MO nv). Cauca: Pacific coast, Río Micay, El Chachajo, Cuatrecasas 14252 ( F). Chocó: Municipio Riosucio, Urabá, Cerro del Cuchillo, Quebrada El Cerro, Cárdenas 1027 ( MO). Nariño: Tumaco, Río Rosario, Romero-Castañeda 5108 ( F, NY). Valle del Cauca: 25 km N of Buenaventura, Gentry et al. 56660 ( MO). ECUADOR. Esmeraldas: Panadero, 7 km E of San Lorenzo, Little & Dixon 21152 ( F, NY, QCNE, US). Carchi: Reserva Etnica Awá, comunidad San Marcos, 25 km al NW de El Chical, parroquia Maldonado, 1990, Rubio 1057 ( MO).

Distribution:— Costa Rica through Panamá to the Chocó in Colombia and Ecuador ( Fig. 8), 0–1800 m.Apparently present only along the Pacific coast in Central America, but this needs confirmation with more collections. It overlaps with O. latialata , from which it is easily separated by its vegetative parts; in O. gracilipes the petiole is 1–2 mm wide (vs. 6–14 mm), the lamina is smaller (10–13 x 4–5 cm vs. 20–50 x 9–18 cm in O latialata ), and even the lower leaf surface is whitish and glabrescent. Other species with overlapping distributions are O. lehmannii , O. gordoniifolia and O. novogranatensis , from which it clearly differs ( Table 1).

Conservation status:— NT, near threatened ( Cogollo et al. 2007).

Notes:— Latex is red or pink, transparent in young parts. In living material, leaves are whitish below, flowers green to yellow, androecium yellow to green and fruits green with a red aril (information from herbarium vouchers).

Vernacular names:— Miguelario ( Costa Rica), cuangaré ( Colombia, Ecuador).