Barnebydendron riedelii (Tul.) J.H.Kirkbr.

Warwick, M.C., Lewis, G.P. & Lima, H.C. (2008). A reappraisal of Barnebydendron (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae: Detarieae). Kew Bulletin 63: 143. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12225-007-9001-y

Morphology General Habit

Deciduous tree 5 – 40 m; dbh 25 – 100 cm; single or multiple-stemmed, with broad, spreading crown, trunk straight, cylindrical

Morphology General Bark

Bark smooth, wrinkled or with granulated texture or with numerous small, orange pustules (Gentry 1993), mid-brownish grey, dark grey to almost black, or pale grey to white, with horizontal lines and black dots, lenticellate; inner bark orange-red, slash pinkish salmon, 1.3 cm thick

Morphology Twigs

Twigs pale brown to black, lenticellate, with dense pale or rufous hairs, these erect or curled, glabrescent

Morphology Leaves Stipules

Stipules caducous, curved, 3 – 17(– 25) × 2 – 5(– 8) mm, the margin, midvein and secondary veins hairy

Morphology Leaves

Leaves once pinnate, 6 – 23 cm long, petiole 1 – 2 cm long, sparsely or densely hairy; rhachis 4.5 – 14 cm long, grooved above, sparsely to densely hairy, with a rhachis extension 1 – 2 mm long protruding beyond the last pair of leaflets; leaflets in (3 –)4 – 6 opposite pairs per leaf; petiolule 1 – 2 mm long, sparsely to densely hairy; leaflet lamina 2 – 7.8 × 1.2 – 5.2 cm, asymmetric-ovate to obovate or elliptic; apex acute, obtuse, retuse or acuminate, rarely apiculate; base unequal, asymmetric, rarely cuneate; upper surface smooth, often glossy and glabrous, or with sparse hairs evenly distributed; undersurface usually with only sparse hairs evenly distributed or only on the midvein or glabrous; margin glabrous to densely hairy, rarely with thickened margin and dense, dark hairs; venation brochidodromous, usually distinct on upper surface, midvein flat above, raised below, six to ten pairs of secondary veins, raised above and below, looping to join vein above very close to the leaf margin, tertiary veins reticulate

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescence racemose, 3 – 17.5 cm long, flowers bright scarlet, crimson or blood red, tightly clustered, borne on branchlets; pedicel 5 – 14 mm long; bracteoles triangular, margin hairy, 1 – 1.2 × 1 – 1.5 mm, caducous

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers

Flowers 2.3 – 3.4 cm long with exserted stamens and style; not scented; calyx with 4 free imbricate sepals, these concave, coriaceous, of equal length, red with the area of overlap yellow, 5 – 10 × 4 – 11 mm, apical margin ciliate, the three innermost sepals elliptic, the outer one asymmetric; petals 3 (occasionally with 2 vestigial petals 2 × 1 mm), fleshy, obovate, scarlet, pink-red (MacQueen & Pennington 1969), pink (Hughes & Lewis 1224) or pale pink to almost white, upper petal 5 – 9 × 2.8 – 5 mm, the two lateral petals 6 – 10 × 3 – 4 mm, apex ciliate (rarely glabrous), claw with glandular hairs, 6 – 10 × 3 – 4 mm; stamens 10, diadelphous (9 + 1), dimorphic due to varying filament length, 1.8 – 3.3 cm long, fused from the base for 0.9 – 1.8 cm, filaments scarlet, anthers homomorphic, pink to cream, bordered yellow-brown, 2 × 0.8 – 1 mm, occasionally fleshy; style pink to scarlet, base yellow-green, 1.2 – 2.6 cm long; stigma brown; stipe 0.7 – 1.5 mm long; ovary pale brown, 5 – 7 × 1.2 – 1.8 mm; ovules (3 –)5 – 10(– 12)

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruit a flattened, pendent, samaroid pod, winged along the seminiferous edge, surface glabrous, glossy, often veined, 6 – 16 × 3 – 4 cm; seeds 1 – 2( –3), ovate or reniform, 2.5 – 4 × 1.8 – 2.8 cm.

Note

Barnebydendron was dedicated to Rupert C. Barneby (1911 – 2000) by Joseph H. Kirkbride (1999); phyllocarpus, Greek, phyllo = leaf, carpus = fruit, apparently referred to the laterally compressed, somewhat leaf-like, winged fruit.

Distribution

(including cultivated material). BRAZIL. Acre, Púrus basin, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro. COSTA RICA. Península de Osa, Puntarenas. CUBA. Havana Botanic Gardens (cult., pers. obs. G. P. L.). EL SALVADOR. San Salvador (cult.). GUATEMALA. Jalapa, Zacapa. GUYANA. Demerara (cult.). HONDURAS. Cortés, Morazán. Canal Zone (cult.). PERU. Madre de Dios, Manu Province. VENEZUELA Amazonas.

Ecology

In Brazil, Barnebydendron riedelii occurs in Atlantic tropical forest, the Amazon basin and on dry, rocky hillsides, from 50 – 800 m; in Guatemala, in dry gullies and degraded seasonally dry tropical forest to floodplains and river banks, from 130 – 900 m. The Peruvian specimens occur in floodplains and ravines from 350 – 850 m. In Costa Rica, B. riedelii occurs on rocky, dry beaches, from 1 – 30 m, along waterways and in primary forest from 100 – 500 m; in Panama, one specimen was collected at 66 m in inundated forest. The specimens from Honduras and El Salvador were cultivated.

Phenology

Usually flowering when branches are leafless; April – June in Brazil, Peru and El Salvador, December – February in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras, December – March in Panama. Glaziou 6839a, apparently collected in September 1837 in the Serra de Tingua, Rio de Janeiro, is a specimen with immature flowers. There is, however, some doubt concerning the authenticity of the field label, as Glaziou collections are sometimes collections made by other field botanists with fictitious field labels added to the pilfered specimen (see, e.g., Smith 1966; Wurdack1970).Flowers are likely to be pollinated by humming birds (Arroyo 1981). Fruiting is from April – May in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Honduras, and is known to occur in August in Brazil and from October – November in Peru.

Vernacular

Brazil: Itapicuru, Guarabu, GuarabuCebola, Favela and Guaribeiro. El Salvador: Flor de mico, Guacamayo and Papagayo. Guatemala: Guacamayo and Palo Negro. Honduras: Coloradillo and Coralillo. Peru: Pumaquiero Colorado.

Conservation

Least Concern (LC). The species occurs in three widely disjunct areas of Central and South America in both wet and dry vegetation types and is not currently threatened globally. The tree has been recently collected in areas of southern Bahia and Rio de Janeiro that are new locality records. Although much of the Atlantic forest of eastern Brazil was cut down in the last century, the species evidently survives in a number of remaining, although restricted, areas of this vegetation type. It seems probable that the species is more at threat in the eastern part of its wide Neotropical range than elsewhere.

Use

Primarily as an ornamental tree, having spectacular displays of mostly scarlet flowers. Isley (1975) reported it as being an introduced cultivated ornamental in cities of subtropical Florida.