Pradosia lactescens ( Vellozo 1825: 81 ) Radlkofer (1888: 407)

Völtz, Rafael R., Alves-Araújo, Anderson & Goldenberg, Renato, 2020, Native Species of Sapotaceae Juss. in Paraná, Brazil, Phytotaxa 430 (4), pp. 224-276 : 268

6.2 Pradosia lactescens ( Vellozo 1825: 81) Radlkofer (1888: 407) . Figure 25

Canopy tree. Trunk sections cylindrical, unbuttressed; bark gray to greenish-gray, dippled; slash orange, tangential section with longitudinal streaks, not discoloured, with scanty latex. Stems yellowish-brown, grayish-brown to pale-graywish, lenticellate or not, rough, rounded, young shoots sericeous-tomentose or pubescent, soon glabrous. Petiole (4.5–)6.0–20.0 mm long, grooved, pubescent or glabrous. Leaf blade chartaceous, 5.5–14.0(–18.0) × 1.5–5.0 cm, narrow-elliptic, elliptic or oblanceolate, apex acute, shortly acuminate or emarginate, base cuneate and slightly decurrent, glabrous, venation eucampto-brochidodromous, midrib sunken on the adaxial surface, raised on the abaxial surface, secondaries 6–11 pairs, convergent, arcuates, flat or slightly sunken on the adaxial surface, raised on the abaxial surface, thin intramarginal vein present, tertiaries flat on the adaxial surface, slightly raised on the abaxial surface. Inflorescences cauliflorous, 3–8-flowered. Pedicel ca. 4.0 mm long, tomentose. Flowers purple in vivo; sepals ca. 1.5 mm long, ovate, apex rounded, margin entire or sparsely ciliate, abaxial surface sericeous-tomentose, adaxial surface glabrous, without a broad glabrous marginal stripe; corolla glabrous, ca. 5.5 mm long, tube ca. 1.5 mm long, lobes ca. 4.0 mm long, oblong to broadly lanceolate, apex rounded; filaments ca. 4.0 mm long, glabrous, anthers ca. 2.0 mm long, glabrous; ovary ca. 1.5 mm long, ovoid, style ca. 1,0 mm long, glabrous, stigma simple. Fruit ripening yellow to orange, ca. 2.8 × 1.4 cm, ellipsoid, tomentose or glabrous, exocarp coriaceous, mesocarp fleshy, endocarp gelatinous, calyx and style persistent. Seeds ca. 3.1 × 1.3 cm; scar ca. 30 mm long, linear.

Selected material: — BRAZIL. Paraná: Antonina, 14 December 1978, G.G. Hatschbach 41775 ( MBM, RB). Antonina, 19 January 1966, G.G. Hatschbach 13521 ( INPA, MBM, NY). Guaraqueçaba, 4 August 2017, R.R. Völtz 1301 ( EFC, HCF, MBM, NY, RB, UPCB, VIES). Paranaguá, 20 June 1998, J.M. Silva 2411 ( BHCB, MBM).

Additional selected material: — BRAZIL. São Paulo: Iguape, 18 December 1990, M.C.H. Mamede 381 ( SP). Iguape, 15 May 1991, M. Kawal 65 ( SP).

In Paraná Pradosia lactescens occurs in the Atlantic coast mountainous region and Serra do Mar on hill slopes between 40 and 800 m elev., in Submontane and Montane Atlantic Rain Forest. Collected with flowers in December and January, with fruits in June, July and August, with a single record in January (Hatschbach 13521). It can be recognized by the shallow depression on the surface of the bark caused by scaled-off old bark, sometimes leaving a different color on the new surface (dippled bark), the glabrous leaf, the eucampto-brochidodromous venation with convergent and arcuate secondary veins, and the flowers and fruits inserted on the main tree trunk (cauliflorous).

Conservation Status: —This species was listed as “Least concern” ( LC) by CNCFlora (2018). In Paraná P. lactescens is irregularly distributed on hill slopes in the Atlantic Rain Forest, and most of the individuals are in protected areas. The main problem to its conservation is the loss of habitat to agriculture or pastures.

Figures

FIGURE 25. Pradosia lactescens. A. Habit. B. Bark. C. Slash. D. Abaxial surface of the leaf. E. Flower, longitudinal section. F. Adaxial surface of the corolla. G. Lateral and frontal view of the seed. H. Fruit. I. Stem. J. Detail of the venation. K. Fruit attached on trunk. (A–C from R.R. Völtz 1310; D, G, J–K from R.R. Völtz 1301; E–F from G.G. Hatschbach 41775; H–I from J.M. Silva 2411) (ov: ovary; sc: seed scar; st: stamen).