Cecropia latiloba
Type
Type. Brazil. Amazonas: Rio Japurá, Martius s.n. (holotype: M, photographs in F, k).
Synonyms
Cecropia paraensis Huber, Cecropia orinocensis Standl., Ambaiba latiloba (Miq.) Kuntze
Species Description
Tree, to 15 (-20) m tall, the trunk with rather prominent stipular scars. Leafy twigs 1.5-3 cm thick, green to red-brown to purplish black, hispidulous. Lamina chartaceous, ca. 20 × 20 cm to 55 × 55 cm (to 70 × 70 cm), the segments 8-9, the free parts of upper segments elliptic to oblong, the incisions (in the upper part of the lamina) down to 5/10-7/10, the lamina attached to the petiole rather close to its base; apices obtuse; upper surface ± scabrous, hirtellous to hispidulous; lower surface puberulous on the veins and with dense or sparse arachnoid indumentum in the areoles; lateral veins in the free part of the midsegment 12-14 pairs, marginally loop-connected, often branched, running (almost) straight into the margin; petiole 25-60 cm long, puberulous; trichilia fused, with only brown indumentum; stipules 8-13(-22), bright to dark red to brownish (or green), caducous or subpersistent, puberulous or sparsely subsericeous outside, sparsely villous inside. Staminate inflorescences in pairs, the peduncle erect and the spikes pendulous; peduncle 4-10 cm, hispidulous to hirtellous to subhirsute; spathe (5-)9-12(-18) cm long, pink to red, puberulous or also with (rather sparse) arachnoid indumentum outside, glabrous inside; spikes (6-) 15-20, (3-) 14-20 × 0.3 cm, with stipes (0.2-)0.4-0.6 cm long and hairy; rachis hairy. Staminate flowers: perianth tubular, 0.6-0.8 mm long, sparsely puberulous just below the apex, the apex slightly convex to plane, sparsely puberulous on the margin, the aperture surrounded by a rim; filaments flat; anthers 0.3-0.5 mm long, remaining attached to the filament by 2 filiform connections between the connective and the upper margin of the filament at anthesis. Pistillate inflorescences in pairs, deflexed to pendulous; peduncle 5-17 cm long, hispidulous to hirtellous to subhirsute; spathe 7-15 cm long, the color and indumentum as in the staminate inflorescence; spikes 4-6, 3-12 × 0.5-0.8 cm, to 25 × 1.5-2 cm in fruit, sessile (or with stipes to 0.5 cm long and glabrous; rachis glabrous. Pistillate flowers: perianth tubular, 4 mm long, with arachnoid indumentum below the apex outside, also below the style channel (or absent) inside, the apex slightly convex to slightly concave, smooth or punctate, the aperture slit-shaped, bordered by a rim; style long, curved; stigma comose. Fruit oblongoid, ca. 3 mm long, finely tuberculate to (almost) smooth.
Discussion
In the upper Amazon basin, particularly in the northwestern part, the spikes of the fruiting pistillate inflorescence are short, usually to 10 cm long. In the Guianas, Venezuelan Guayana, and parts of Brazil, the fruiting spikes can be to 25 cm long, and the peduncles are usually longer as well. The species is commonly found in periodically inundated areas along black-water rivers or in depressions with sandy and poorly drained soil away from white-water rivers (cf. Lamotte, 1992). It is also found in periodically inundated white sand savannas in the Guianas. It is ecologically clearly distinct from Cecropia membranacea, the other species of the genus that tolerates extended inundation.
Cecropia latiloba and C. utcubambana are morphologically very close and almost certainly closely related.
In Madre de Dios, bark fibers are used to make arrow strings (D. W. Yu, pers. comm.).
Authority
Berg, Cornelius C. & Franco Rosselli, Pilar. 2005. Cecropia. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 94: 1--230. (Published by NYBG Press)
Amazon basin, the basin of Río Orinoco, and in the Guianas.
In periodically inundated places, especially along black-water rivers (on nutrient-poor and not well-aerated soil) and on sand savannas, at low elevations.