Mora Benth., Trans. Linn. Soc. London 18(2): 210, pl. 16-17. 1839.

Bruneau, Anne, de Queiroz, Luciano Paganucci, Ringelberg, Jens J., Borges, Leonardo M., Bortoluzzi, Roseli Lopes da Costa, Brown, Gillian K., Cardoso, Domingos B. O. S., Clark, Ruth P., Conceicao, Adilva de Souza, Cota, Matheus Martins Teixeira, Demeulenaere, Else, de Stefano, Rodrigo Duno, Ebinger, John E., Ferm, Julia, Fonseca-Cortes, Andres, Gagnon, Edeline, Grether, Rosaura, Guerra, Ethiene, Haston, Elspeth, Herendeen, Patrick S., Hernandez, Hector M., Hopkins, Helen C. F., Huamantupa-Chuquimaco, Isau, Hughes, Colin E., Ickert-Bond, Stefanie M., Iganci, Joao, Koenen, Erik J. M., Lewis, Gwilym P., de Lima, Haroldo Cavalcante, de Lima, Alexandre Gibau, Luckow, Melissa, Marazzi, Brigitte, Maslin, Bruce R., Morales, Matias, Morim, Marli Pires, Murphy, Daniel J., O'Donnell, Shawn A., Oliveira, Filipe Gomes, Oliveira, Ana Carla da Silva, Rando, Juliana Gastaldello, Ribeiro, Petala Gomes, Ribeiro, Carolina Lima, Santos, Felipe da Silva, Seigler, David S., da Silva, Guilherme Sousa, Simon, Marcelo F., Soares, Marcos Vinicius Batista & Terra, Vanessa, 2024, Advances in Legume Systematics 14. Classification of Caesalpinioideae. Part 2: Higher-level classification, PhytoKeys 240, pp. 1-552 : 1

Mora Benth., Trans. Linn. Soc. London 18(2): 210, pl. 16-17. 1839.

Figs 88 , 89 , 91

Type.

Mora excelsa Benth.

Description.

Unarmed large trees, 15-45 m; trunk buttressed; brachyblasts absent; glabrous. Stipules small, caducous. Leaves paripinnate, alternate; petiole 2-6 cm long, rachis 5-10 cm long; leaflets (1) 2-6 (7) pairs, opposite, large, long-acuminate, glabrous and smooth, secondary veins inconspicuous. Inflorescences spiciform racemes arranged in paniculate synflorescences. Flowers small, white or yellow, 5-merous, diplostemonous; bracteoles small, caducous; calyx with a very short tube and short ciliated lobes; petals oblong or ovate, finely ciliated at the apex; fertile stamens 5, filaments thick, anthers covered with caducous white hairs, anther glands absent; staminodes 5; pollen tricolpate monads; ovary sessile or nearly so, few-ovuled, style compressed with a thin terminal stigma. Fruit a dehiscent legume, flat, elliptic or oblong, coriaceous to woody, the valves twist after dehiscence. Seeds large, flattened or suborbicular, with a membranous testa.

Chromosome number.

Unknown.

Included species and geographic distribution.

The genus comprises six species occurring in Central America (Panama, Costa Rica), northern South America (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela) and Greater Antilles (Haiti, Dominican Republic and Trinidad Tobago) (Fig. 91 ).

Ecology.

Mora species generally occur in periodically flooded forests, swamps and mangroves. Mora excelsa forms monodominant forests in the Guianas ( Ducke 1925).

Etymology.

Derived from the widely used Arawak vernacular name ‘mora’.

Human uses.

Mora species are valuable timber in the Guianas, being used in construction, industrial flooring and for charcoal ( Lewis 2005b), while M. paraensis (Ducke) Ducke is used in house construction by Brazilian riverine communities ( Ducke 1925). The seeds of M. megistosperma (Pittier) Britton & Rose are a local source of a red dye ( Schembera 2004).

Notes.

Mora has a complex taxonomic history, having been treated under Dimorphandra by several authors. Mora can be readily distinguished from Dimorphandra by the paripinnate leaves, which are always glabrous (vs. bipinnate, often pubescent); anthers with conspicuous caducous white hairs (vs. glabrous); style longer than the ovary (vs. shorter); large, soft seeds, with a membranous testa (vs. small seeds with a hard testa) ( Ducke 1925; Sandwith 1932). The large fruits and seeds of Mora species are well adapted to water dispersal (ter Steege 1994). Seeds of M. megistosperma , ca. 18 × 12 cm, are among the largest dicotyledonous seeds ( Lewis 2005b).

Taxonomic references.

Bentham (1839, 1840); Ducke (1925); Britton and Rose (1930); Sandwith (1932); Tulasne (1844); ter Steege (1990).

Figures

Figure 88. Leaves and inflorescences of tribe Dimorphandreae A Mora paraensis (Ducke) Ducke (Simon 1663) B Stachyothyrsus staudtii Harms C Burkea africana Hook. D Dimorphandra mediocris Ducke (Simon 4209) E Dimorphandra cuprea Sprague & Sandwith (Farronay 1804) F Dimorphandra parviflora Spruce ex Benth. (Simon 1176) G Dimorphandra mollis Benth. H Dimorphandra pennigera Tul. I Dimorphandra ignea Ducke J Dimorphandra vernicosa Spreng. ex Benth. (Cardoso 3279) K Burkea africana L Dimorphandra gardneriana Tul. (Silva 21). Photo credits A, D, F, G MF Simon B Nicolas Texier (CC-BY-NC-ND- 3.0) C AR Lecuona (CC-BY-NC- 4.0) E, H, I F Javier Farronay Pacaya J D Cardoso K AE van Wyk and S Malan L G Sousa da Silva.

Figure 89. Flowers and fruits of the tribe Dimorphandreae A Dimorphandra cuprea Sprague & Sandwith (Farronay 1804) B Dimorphandra pennigera Tul. C Dimorphandra vernicosa Spreng. ex Benth. (Cardoso 3279) D Dimorphandra ignea Ducke E Stachyothyrsus staudtii Harms F Dimorphandra gardneriana Tul. (Simon 2715) G Dimorphandra macrostachya Benth. (Silva 540) H Dimorphandra cuprea Sprague & Sandwith (Farronay 1804) I Stachyothyrsus staudtii Harms J Burkea africana Hook. K-M Mora paraensis (Ducke) Ducke (K, L Costa 28). Photo credits A, B, D, H F Javier Farronay Pacaya C D Cardoso E Flora of the world F MF Simon G G Sousa da Silva I N Texier (CC-BY-NC-ND- 3.0) J C Sydes (CC-BY-NC- 4.0) K, L J Barbosa Pedrosa Costa M A Rocha Dantas.

Figure 91. Distribution of Mora based on quality-controlled digitised herbarium records. See Suppl. material 1 for the source of occurrence data.