Cecropia garciae Standl.

Species Description 

Tree, to 12 m tall, often with a short trunk. Leafy twigs 3-5 cm thick, dark green to dark purple; hispidulous to hispid to setose with irritating bristles. Lamina (sub)coriaceous, ca. (55 × 55 cm to) 70 × 70 cm to 110 × 110 cm, the segments 14-19, lanceolate, the incisions down to the petiole; apices acuminate; margin in dry material ± revolute; upper surface scabridulous (to scabrous or to smooth), very sparsely hispidulous, the "umbilicus" (sub)setose; lower surface with arachnoid indumentum in the areoles and on the smaller veins, extending to the primary and lateral veins, these also with brown pluricellular hairs; lateral veins ca. 35-50 pairs, submarginally loop-connected, unbranched; petiole ca. 50-100 cm long, with ± dense arachnoid indumentum and setose, often only adaxially at the base and in the uppermost part; trichilia fused, the (pale) brown indumentum intermixed with short brown (unicellular) hairs or sometimes also sparsely setose; stipules 18-30 cm long, dark red-brown or dark purple-red, sparsely to rather densely setose with appressed or patent irritating bristles outside, glabrous inside. Staminate inflorescences in pairs, erect; peduncle 4-12.5 cm long, hispidulous or partly (short-)setose; spathe 10-15 cm long, dark red, sparsely setose with appressed to patent bristles outside, glabrous inside; spikes ca. 15-35, 4-13 × ca. 0.3 cm, (sub)sessile; rachis hairy. Staminate flowers: perianth tubular, ca. 1 mm long, with sparse short arachnoid indumentum below the apex, the apex plane, muriculate to hispidulous or smooth; filaments flat; anthers ca. 0.7-1 mm long, appendiculate, detached at anthesis (?). Pistillate inflorescences in pairs, erect; peduncle (3-)6-13 cm long, sparsely to rather densely hispidulous to puberulous and/or partly (short-)setose, often also with sparse to dense arachnoid indumentum; spathe 8-12 cm long, the color and indumentum as in the staminate inflorescence; spikes 5-21, 5-18 × 0.3-0.5 cm, to 21 × ca. 1.5 cm in fruit, (sub)sessile; rachis (sub)glabrous. Pistillate flowers: perianth ca. 1.5-2.5 mm long, with arachnoid indumentum below the apex, also below the style channel inside, the apex convex, muriculate, the aperture slightly slit-shaped; style short; stigma comose. Fruit ellipsoid to obovoid or to ovoid, 1.2-1.7 mm long, tuberculate.

Discussion
This species is in most characters more or less similar to Cecropia hispidissima, but they are clearly distinct in the trichilia. In C. garciae, the trichilia are well-defined, only sometimes with sparse irritating bristles, and the Mullerian bodies are small and whitish, whereas in C. hispidissima the Mullerian bodies are large and pinkish being produced in ± loosely defined trichilia with numerous irritating bristles. In C. garciae, the number of segments of the lamina is usually 15-19, whereas it is usually 12-15 in C. hispidissima. Moreover, the lamina is usually scabridulous and plane in C. garciae, but smooth and often ± plicate in C. hispidissima. Cecropia garciae is normally found at elevations below 1000 m. The single collection from a much higher elevation in Carchi (Ecuador) was made in an area where other lowland species (of moraceous genera) have also been found at elevations above the normal upper limit of lowland species. The trees of this species are normally inhabited by ants of the genus Azteca. The identity of Bristan 121, the only collection from Panama, is not quite certain.

Authority
Berg, Cornelius C. & Franco Rosselli, Pilar. 2005. Cecropia. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 94: 1--230. (Published by NYBG Press)