Dicranostyles
Accepted name/Authority/Place of publication:
DICRANOSTYLES Benth., London J. Bot. 5: 355 (1846).
Tribe:
Maripeae
Synonyms:
Kuhlmanniella Barroso, Rodriguesia 9: 36 (1945).
Type Species:
Dicranostyles scandens Benth., London J. Bot. 5: 355 (1846).
Habit:
Lianas reaching over 30 m; larger stems smooth to slightly fluted, 15 cm in diameter or larger.
Leaves:
Leaves alternate, simple; petioles canaliculate; exstipulate; blades chartaceous, occasionally subcoriaceous, the base attenuate, acute to obtuse, occasionally rounded, cordate or truncate, the margins entire, the apex acuminate, rarely truncate; venation brochidodromus; densely appressed puberulous or erect pubescent to glabrescent.
Inflorescences:
Axillary, racemose, racemose-thyrsiform, cylindric-thyrsiform, or thyrsiform, usually +- fasciculate in leaf axils or along internodes, the branches usually with appressed dibrachiate pubescence. Bracts mostly ovate, persistent, pubescent, occasionally glabrous, the bracteoles squamiform.
Flowers:
Pentamerous, with valvate-induplicate aestivations; sepals quincuncial, the otuer usually ovate, the apex usually acute, the inner mostly broadly ovate to subrotund, the apex usually rounded, the exposed surfaces usually pubescent, the covered surfaces usually glabrous, mostly ciliate, corollas subrotate or funnelform, white, occasionally pinkish, small (to 5(-8) mm long, lobed almost to base when subrotate, or half corolla length or less when funnelform, the lobes oblong to oblong-triangular, acute to rotund, the margins involute, inflexed, erect or reflexed at anthesis, pubescent outside, rarely inside, stamens epipetalous, excluded between corolla lobes or inflexed and included at corolla tube apex, the filaments filiform to tapering from a widened or dilate-triangular base, the base free or fused to corolla tube, usually inserted near tube apex, if free pubescent with glandular shaggy hairs or glabrous, if fused to tube apex glabrous but with a ring or longitudinal row of glandular hairs, or hairs almost absent, the anthers dorsifixed, versatile, elliptic-rotund, oblongoid, ovoid or trianguloid, the base sagittate; disc cupuliform, 5-lobed, probably nectiferous; ovary mostly divided into 2 short branches, or completely divided, the stigma 2-lobed with the lobes flattened, globose, rotund, cylindric or obpyriform, free or closely appressed.
Pollen:
3-colpate, prolate to prolate-spheroidal.
Fruits:
Nut-like or baccate, ellipsoid to ellipsoid-cylindric, the pericarp thick coriaceous to ligneous, 1(-4)-seeded through abortion.
Seeds:
Glabrous, ovate to oblong-elliptic, trigonous if more than one per fruit, the seed coat soft, coriaceous, the endosperm scanty or apparently absent, cartilaginous, the cotyledons thin, conduplicate, latiplicate, the base investing.
Distribution:
Neotropical. map
Countries:
Costa Rica
Brazil
Colombia
French Guiana
Guyana
Peru
Surinam
Venezuela
Ecology:
Fruits probably dispersed by monkeys and birds. Grows in capoeira, varzea, and terra firme.
Common names and uses:
cipó abiú (cipó = vine, abiú = Pouteria caimito, perhaps alluding to leaf similarity; D. holostyla, Brazil)
Number of Species:
13
Infrageneric Characters:
Corolla campanulate or subrotate, lobed ½ its length or more, styles 2, free or 1 with 2 branches, the 2 stigma lobes readily distinguishable, free or closely appressed, complanate to capitates and globose … subg. Dicranostyles
Corolla funnelform, lobed ½ its length or less, style 1, entire, the stigma obscurely 2-lobed, the lobes closely appressed to fused, cylindrical, obpyriform to globose … subg. Kuhlmanniella
References:
Austin, D. F. Pollen et Spores 15:203-226. 1973.
Contributors: