Cecropia silvae
Type
Type. Brazil. Pará: Rio Jarí, Monte Dourado, Planalto A, 11 Sep 1968 ([female]), N. T. Silva 956 (holotype: U; isotypes: MG, NY, US).
Species Description
Tree, to 30 m tall. Leafy twigs 2-4 cm thick, hirtellous to subhispid. Lamina subcoriaceous, ca. 30 × 30 cm to 70 × 70 cm, the segments (12-) 15-17, oblanceolate, the incisions down to near the petiole; apices obtuse to subacute to short-acuminate; upper surface scabrous to scabridulous, hispidulous, often also with sparse arachnoid indumentum; lower surface minutely puberulous to pubescent on the main veins, with arachnoid indumentum in the areoles, the smaller veins, or also on the main veins; lateral veins in the midsegment ca. 40-45 pairs, submarginally loop-connected, unbranched; petiole ca. 25-55 cm long, puberulous to subhirsute; trichilia fused, the brown indumentum intermixed with rather long stiff to soft white hairs; stipules 5-6 cm long, hirtellous to subhirsute outside, sericeous inside. Staminate inflorescences: peduncle ca. 9 cm long, hirtellous and with sparse arachnoid indumentum; spathe whitish, hirtellous and with dense arachnoid indumentum outside, glabrous inside; spikes ca. 40-50, 4-8 × ca. 0.3 cm, with stipes 0.2-0.3 cm long and with dense brown pluricellular trichomes; rachis hairy. Staminate flowers: perianth tubular, ca. 1-1.5 mm long, glabrous, the apex convex to plane; filaments flat; anthers ca. 0.5-0.6 mm long, appendiculate, detached at anthesis (?), reattached to the margins of the aperture by the appendages (?). Pistillate inflorescences in pairs (?), erect (?); peduncle 3-7 cm long, hirtellous; spathe ca. 6-7 cm long, the color and indumentum as in the staminate inflorescence; spikes 4, ca. 5-6 × ca. 0.4 cm, to 9 × 1.5 cm in fruit, sessile; rachis hairy. Pistillate flowers: perianth ca. 2 mm long, with arachnoid indumentum below the apex and on the apex to near the aperture outside, also below the style channel inside, the apex convex, puberulous on the margins of the aperture; style rather long; stigma penicillate. Fruit oblongoid, ca. 2.5 mm long, tuberculate, dark brown.
Discussion
This species is distinguished by the narrow segments of the lamina with numerous lateral veins in the free part of the midsegment. This species shows morphological affinities to Cecropia ulei. Due to the scarcity of material, there are some gaps in the description. The collections from Amapá and French Guiana are made from juvenile trees, and their identity is not certain.
Authority
Berg, Cornelius C. & Franco Rosselli, Pilar. 2005. Cecropia. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 94: 1--230. (Published by NYBG Press)
Brazil, northern Pará, extending to southern Suriname and French Guiana.