Otoba gordoniifolia (Candolle) Gentry (1979: 417)

Jaramillo-Vivanco, Tatiana S. & Balslev, Henrik, 2020, Revision of Otoba (Myristicaceae), Phytotaxa 441 (2), pp. 143-175 : 158-159

Otoba gordoniifolia (Candolle) Gentry (1979: 417) . ( Fig. 6 )

Basionym: Myristica gordoniifolia Candolle (1855:30) .

Type :— ECUADOR. Vicinity of Guayaquil, “Huayaquil,” 1804, Tafalla s.n., pistillate and fruiting (holotype G!; isotypes: B destroyed, BM! 2 sheets, F [photo of F-specimen seen at K, MO, NY, P, S], G! 2 sheets [photo of G-specimen seen at MO], G-DC!, NY photo, 2 sheets). Additional staminate material with the same label information as on the type is deposited in MA! 2 sheets and FI-W photo. Because these sheets are staminate, they should not be considered as duplicates (isotypes) of the pistillate/fruiting holotype at G .

Homotypic synonyms: Palala gordoniifolia (Candolle) Kuntze (1891: 567) , comb. illeg. Dialyanthera gordoniifolia (Candolle) Warburg (1897:153) .

Petiole (30–)50–70 × 3–4 mm, somewhat winged; lamina (13–)24–34 × (6–) 8–12 cm, ferruginous and densely pubescent below; secondary veins 17–24 per side, often with 2–4 raised intramarginal veins. Staminate inflorescence sessile; partial inflorescences 2, densely pubescent, ca. 50-flowered; umbelliform parts alternate, 5–10 flowers; bracteoles rarely present. Staminate flowers with pedicel 7 mm long; perianth (2–) 4–6 mm long, inner surface smooth, without a swollen basal ring; androecium (1.5–)2.5–4.0 mm long; filament column bottle-shaped, fused but occasionally divergent for 1/3 of its length distally; anthers reniform, apex slightly incurved, basally attached to the filaments apex, 0.7–1.5 mm long. Pistillate inflorescence similar to the staminate one, but with partial inflorescence ca. 20-flowered. Pistillate flowers similar to staminate ones; gynoecium 3.0– 3.5 mm long; ovary pubescent, bottle-shaped to globose, 2.5–3.5 × 2.0– 2.5 mm; stigmatic lobes free or fused along both sides, ca. 1 mm long. Infructescence with 1–2 fruits. Fruit (3–)5 × 4 cm, globose, apex mucronate; pericarp 3–5 mm thick; aril yellow; seed 2.5 cm diam, with a small prickle at apex, occasionally tuberculate.

Representative specimens examined: COLOMBIA. Antioquia: Las Orquídeas, Vereda Calles, Parque Nacional Natural Las Orquídeas, Quebrada Honda, en el filo al NW de La Cabaña Calles, 1992, Pipoly 17003 ( MO nv). Chocó: Cerro del Torrá, vertiente oriental, abajo del helipuerto, vereda Río Negro, 1988, Ramos Pérez 1057 ( MO nv). Nariño: Reserva Natural La Planada, 7 km from Chucunés, Benavides 8820 ( MO). Quindio: Vda La Española, fca Las Palmas, Macías 1635 ( COL nv). Valle del Cauca: Munchique National Park, El Tambo along Nueva Granada rd., González 2991 ( MA). ECUADOR. Bolívar: Valle de Tablas, Acosta Solís 6044 ( F). Carchi: San Marcos de los Coaiqueres, Øllgaard et al. 57592 ( AAU, MO, NY, QCA). Cotopaxi: Tenefuerte, Río Pilaló, Quevedo–Latacunga road km 52–53, Dodson & Gentry 12260 ( MO, QCNE). El Oro: Santa Rosa–Balsas road, 9 km NW of Balsas, Lewis & Lozano 2907 (LOJA). Esmeraldas: Río San Juan and Río Camumbi junction, Játiva & Epling 1122 ( NY, US). Pichincha: Old road Quito–Sto. Domingo de los Colorados km 59, Grijalva 37 ( AAU, GB, LOJA, NY, QCA).

Distribution:— Slopes of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador ( Fig. 7) up to 2200 m. Overlaps with the similar species O. novogranatensis and O. lehmannii , but can be distinguished from O. novogranatensis by its male flower ( O. gordoniifolia has filaments fused in a bottle-shaped column, whereas O. novogranatensis bears free filaments) and by its female flowers from O. lehmannii (gynoecium glabrous vs. pubescent in O. gordoniifolia ). The other two overlapping species are O. gracilipes and O. latialata , but they have several morphological differences that make them easily recognized, such as longer leaf petiole, ferruginous indument on the lower leaf surface, intramarginal veins and pubescence on the ovary in O. gordoniifolia ( Table 1). Otoba gordoniifolia is easily recognized by its ferruginous and densely pubescent lower leaf surface and often two to four intramarginal veins, although this species varies greatly in its vegetative parts.

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

Notes:— Collections from northern Ecuador (Carchi Province) are particularly small. In living material, the leaves are ferruginous, and the flowers are yellow to green. In Ecuador, the latex is used as an analgesic in odontology and as varnish for guitars.

The protologue incorrectly cited Ruiz and Pavon as collectors of the type specimen of M. gordoniifolia ; Ruiz and Pavon, however, never collected near Guayaquil and by the year 1804 they were already back in Madrid after their expedition to Peru and Chile. One of the MA-specimens is annotated in Ruiz’ hand as “Diocia Syngenes, Myristica, V. Coco, F.H. N. 533 Ao de 1804” and must have been collected by Tafalla, who did collect near Guayaquil (“F.H.” refers to Flora Huayaquilensis) in the years 1799–1803 and out of Quito in the years 1804–1808. Tafalla sent his collections to Madrid where Ruiz incorporated them in his herbarium; later Ruiz distributed under his own name large parts of the herbarium to other European herbaria from which they have been cited as if they were collected by him, often in conjunction with Pavon’s name. Tafalla’s contribution to Ruiz’ herbarium was recently recognized, and the plates based on his specimens were published together with his notes ( Tafalla 1989) and a historical introduction ( Estrella 1989).

Vernacular names:— Árbol de coco, carache coco, cuangaré, cuanyore, sangre de gallina ( Ecuador).

Figures

FIGURE 6. Vegetative and reproductive characters of Otoba gordoniifolia. A. Habit. B. Male inflorescence. C. Fertile staminate shoot; notice the lamina of the leaf below with two intramarginal veins. D. Staminate flowers. E. Fruits, seed with aril. F. Timber logs from trunk. Photographs: Álvaro Pérez (Ecuador). A, B, E: Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas; C, D: voucher specimen Pérez 9776, Carchi; F: Esmeraldas.