Tovomita longifolia (Rich.) Hochr.

Marinho, Lucas Cardoso, Fiaschi, Pedro & Amorim, André Márcio, 2025, Taxonomic revision of the neotropical genus Tovomita (Clusiaceae), Willdenowia 55 (1), pp. 145-258 : 205-206

34. Tovomita longifolia (Rich.) Hochr. in Annuaire Con-

serv. Jard. Bot. Genève 21: 66. 1919 ≡ Clusia longifolia Rich. in Actes Soc. Hist. Nat. Paris 1: 113. 1792 ≡

Tovomita richardiana Planch. & Triana in Ann. Sci. Nat.,

Bot., ser. 4, 14: 273. 1860, nom. illeg. superfl. ≡ Micranthera clusioides Choisy, Mém. Nouv. Gen. Guttif. : 15.

1823, nom. illeg. superfl. – Lectotype (designated by

Marinho & al. 2016b: 771): French Guiana, s.dat., Le-

blond [34] ( G [ G00355740 ] photo!; isolectotypes: MPU

[ MPU014282 ] photo!, P [ P 05061606] !).

= Tovomita choisyana Planch. & Triana in Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., ser. 4, 14: 281. 1860. – Lectotype (designated by Marinho & al. 2016b: 769): French Guiana, [Cayenne], s.dat., anonymous s.n. (G [ G00210642 ] photo!; isolectotype: G [ G00210645 ] photo!).

= Tovomita bahiensis Engl. in Martius & al., Fl. Bras. 12(1): 455. 1888. – Lectotype (designated by Marinho & al. 2016b: 769): Brazil, “ Bahia, in silvis ad Ilheos”, s.dat., B. Luschnath s.n. (BR [ BR000008676894 ] photo!; isolectotypes: BR [ BR000008676948 ] photo!, BR [ BR000008676542 ] photo!, BR [ BR000008676863 photo!).

= Tovomita melinonii Vesque, Epharmosis 3: 20. 1892, syn. nov. – Lectotype (designated here): French Guiana, herbier de la Guyane franchise, 1865, E. M. Mélinon s.n. (P [ P00093864 !]; isolectotype: P [ P00093865 ]!).

= Tovomita excelsa Andrade-Lima & G. Mariz in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 101: 367. 1974. – Holotype: Brazil, Alagoas, São Miguel dos Campos, 24 Nov 1967, D. Andrade-Lima 67/5146 (IPA [no. 16342] seen as a loan at UFP!; isotypes: NY [ NY00076044 ]!, UFP [no. 01439]!).

Description — Trees up to 15 m tall, prop roots conspicuous; exudate yellow, abundant. Petioles 2.3–4.5 cm long, smooth, green, lenticels absent. Leaf blades 14.5–33 × 5–13 cm, greenish in sicco and in vivo, subcoriaceous, black dots absent, oblong to rarely obovate, base convex to decurrent, apex straight to convex; papillae, lenticels and fungal spots absent; exudate canals immersed, inconspicuous adaxially, as blackish lines on abaxial surface in sicco, parallel to secondary veins. Venation: secondary veins 7–11 pairs, 15–55 mm apart from each other, forming angle 65°–75° to midvein, prominent abaxially, immersed adaxially, arcuate near margin; intersecondary veins present, two or more per intercostal area, much thinner than secondary veins, distal course basiflexed,> 50 % of subjacent secondary length; tertiary veins percurrent, perpendicular; intramarginal vein absent. Inflorescences: ♂ frequently congested cyme with 5 basal branches and up to 17 flowers, with terminal flower, ♀ dichasium, lenticels absent. Pedicels 7–20 mm long, green, distal and proximal portion with same gauge, proximally articulated on lateral flowers of dichasia, calyptrae and lenticels absent. Floral buds 9–15 mm long, oblong to ovoid, apex rounded to apiculate, lenticels absent, not blackened in sicco. Sepals 4, 9–15 × 8–11 mm, ovate to oblong, apex rounded, greenish; petals 6–8, 10–15 × 4–6 mm, elliptic to oblong, reflexed, apex acute to obtuse, white. Staminate flowers: stamens 55–75, 6–13 mm long, isodynamous; filaments terete, white; anthers 0.5–1 mm long, white, connective not exceeding thecae; pistillode inconspicuous. Pistillate flowers: staminodes 50–75, 6.5–7 mm long, white; ovary 7–8 mm long, not costate, 5-locular, white, stigmas 5, sessile, 1.3–1.7 mm in diam. Capsules fleshy, 3.8–5.3 × 1.7–4.2 cm, 5-septate, pyriform when closed, not costate or lobed, rostrum absent, epicarp smooth, lenticels absent, green when immature, yellowish when mature, mesocarp reddish; sepals, petals, staminodes and stigmas persistent. Aril orange. Fig. 56.

Iconography — Illustration available in Choisy (1823: pl. 11–12) as Micranthera clusioides ; Engler (1888: 99) as Tovomita bahiensis .

Distribution — Brazil (Alagoas, Amapá, Bahia, Maranhão, Pará, Pernambuco), French Guiana (Saint-Elie, Saül), Guyana (Upper Demerara-Berbice), Suriname (Brokopondo, Para, Paramaribo). Fig. 57.

Conservation status — Least Concern (LC, Marinho & Beech 2019).

Nomenclatural notes — The length of the stamens was suggested by Marinho & al. (2016b) as the only relevant character to distinguish Tovomita choisyana and T. longifolia ; however, the analysis of more specimens of T. choisyana across its entire geographic distribution showed that there is a large overlap in stamen length between these two species. The same observations were made by Molino & al. (2022), who proposed the synonymization of T. choisyana under T. longifolia .

Until now, Tovomita longifolia was considered as the only species of Tovomita whose geographic distribution spans the three centres of diversity of the genus: Amazon, Atlantic forest, and Chocoan/southern Mesoamerican region ( Marinho & al. 2021). These authors pointed out that this widespread distribution should be interpreted cautiously, as morphological data then available suggested that samples of T. longifolia from this entire geographic breadth could emerge as a non-monophyletic group. Despite the absence of phylogenetic data suggesting its segregation in more than one taxon, we present below morphological evidence for the recognition of T. longifolia plus two additional Mesoamerican species, T. crassidactyla and T. xanthochlora , and one from the Atlantic forest, T. stellaris (see Table 2). Even with the description of these species, T. longifolia remains as a disjunct species occurring in Amazon and Atlantic forest ( Fig. 57).

Recognition and discussion — Tovomita longifolia shares with T. crassidactyla , T. grandis , T. megantha , T. obovata , T. plumieri , T. stellaris and T. xanthochlora similar vegetative characters and, in some cases, sympatric distributions. Characteristics such as floral bud apex and shape, pedicel length, shape and coloration of the stamens can be used to distinguish the species ( Table 2). However, the accurate identification of sterile specimens of these taxa is very unlikely. When in sicco, the flowers are also similar, but in vivo they are quite distinctive, especially their coloration ( Fig. 58). Among the species cited above, T. obovata is the most similar to T. longifolia , differing by the always obovate (vs oblong to rarely obovate) leaves and the longer (7–20 mm vs 16–43 mm long) pedicels. In fact, this group of species needs further investigations using more samples and other tools, such as morphometrics or population genetics.

Selected specimens examined — BRAZIL: ALAGOAS: Flexeiras, Estação Ecológica de Murici , 23 Aug 2013, fl. ♂, M. C. S . Mota 12006 ( MAC!) . AMAPÁ: Rio Oiapoque , 9 Jul 1960, fl. ♂, B . Maguire 47015 ( NY!) . BAHIA: Reserva Biológica de Una , 28 Sep 2001, fl., L. A . Passos Jr. & al. 976 ( ALCB!, CEPEC!) . MARANHÃO: Morros , ramal à margem da MA 110 , 16 Jul 2022, fl. ♂, L. C . Marinho & al. 1809 ( MAR!) . PARÁ: Belém, Mata da Reserva Mocambo , 31 Jan 2017, sterile, L. C . Marinho & al. 1240 ( CEPEC!) . PERNAMBUCO: Zona da Mata , s.dat., D. P . Lima 12582 ( IPA!) . — FRENCH GUIANA: SAINT-ELIE: Interfluve Sinnamary-Counamana , 27 Jul 1986, sterile, D. Sabatier & M. F . Prévost 1345 ( K!) . SAÜL: upland tropical moist forest, 03°38'N, 53°12'W, 220 m, 22 Jun 1988, sterile, A . Gentry & al. 63094 ( NY!) . — GUYANA: UPPER DEMERARA-BERBICE: Gunn’s, Essequibo river , 01°39'N, 58°38'W, 240–260 m, 2 Sep 1989, fl. ♂, M. J . Jansen-Jacobs & al. 1409 ( B!); 230 km upriver from mouth, N of Kwakwani, 05°40'N, 58°00'W, 70 m, 18 Apr 1993, sterile, B . Hoffman & G . Aymard 3990 ( NY!) . — SURINAME: BROKOPONDO: between village Afobaka and Brownberg , 11 Jan 1966, fr., J. van Donselaar 2991 ( F photo!) . PARA: Zanderij , 3 May 1922, fl. ♀, B. W . 5826 (IPA!). PARAMARIBO: Lely Mountains , 175 km SSE of Paramaribo, 500–700 m, 20 Oct 1976, fr., S . Mori & A. Bolten 8553 ( K!, NY!) .