Garcinia guacopary (S.Moore) M.Nee, Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard.

Mouzinho, Thiago, Marinho, Lucas Cardoso & Giacomin, Leandro Lacerda, 2025, Novelties in South American Garcinia (Clusiaceae): Tying loose ends across biomes, Acta Botanica Brasilica (e 20240106) 39, pp. 1-10 : 6-8

Garcinia guacopary (S.Moore) M.Nee, Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 127: 1271 (2014). ( Figs. 3 , 5 , 6 ).

Type: Brazil, Mato Grosso: Santa Cruz [currently Barra do Bugres; see comments], September 1891 (fr), S. L. Moore 332 (Lectotype, designated here: BM [barcode BM000583029 image!]; isolectotype: NY [barcode NY00076032 image!]) .

≡ Rheedia guacopary S.Moore, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, Bot. 4(3): 310 (1895).

Shrubs or trees up to 10 m tall; stem with brown fissured rhytidome; yellow exudate after cutting, expelled slowly in drops, sticky texture; pink sapwood and yellow heartwood. Branches cylindrical, smooth in sicco texture, with longitudinal striations; petioles 4.3–13.6 mm long, slightly transversely striated in sicco; dilation of the base of the petioles oblong in sicco; greenish-yellow exudate. Leaf blades 5.2–13.4 × 3–6.8, chartaceous, discolorous, greenish in vivo and generally brown in sicco, opaque on the abaxial surface in sicco, elliptical to elliptical-ovate, rarely obovate, apex acuminate-apiculate, base attenuated, slightly sinuous margin; secondary veins <20 pairs, branched near the margin; inter-secondary veins parallel to secondaries; 2–3 pairs per intercostal area; intramarginal vein conspicuous; exudate canals inconspicuous. Inflorescences and staminate flowers not seen. Inflorescence pistillate axillary, fasciculate, bracteoles 2; pedicels 7.5–12.1 mm long, reddish in vivo. Flower buds ca. 4.5 × 3.7 mm, greenish, globose. Pistillate flowers with a mild aroma; sepals 2, 2.4–3 × 2.4–3.3 mm, greenish, concave, fleshy, rounded; petals 4–6, white with greenish nuances, chartaceous to membranaceous, concave, 2 outer petals 4.8–5.1 × 4–6.3 mm, rounded; 2–4 inner petals 6–6.8 × 4, 7– 6.1 mm, obovate; nectary disc annular 4–4.4 mm diameter, yellow; staminodes ca. 15 per flower, arranged in 1 series; filaments 1.8–2.5 mm long, hyaline, terete; rudimentary anthers ellipsoid, yellow, rusty when senescent; thecae 0.49–0.54 × 0.27–0.38 mm; ovary 2.1–2.7 × 3.8–4.1 mm, green, globose; carpels 3, 3 locules 0.58–0.67 mm diameter in cross-section, 1 ovule per locule; stigma 2.3–3 mm diameter, white, slightly capitate, three-lobed. Berries with smooth epicarp, greenish-yellow exudate, abundant; sepals, staminodes, and stigmas persistent; when mature ca. 35 × 32 mm, yellow to orange, globose, epicarp with a slightly rigid texture, white endocarp, white mesocarp, taste acid-sweet; rostrum 2–3 mm long; concreted stigma ca. 3 mm diameter, three-lobed. Seeds 2–3, ellipsoid.

Vernacular name: azedinho (como “azeidinho”; português) (Ratter 4456 – F).

Distribution and conservation status: Garcinia guacopary occurs in Bolivia (Departments of Beni and Santa Cruz) and Brazil (states of Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará and Tocantins). Garcinia guacopary is distributed in transition areas between the Amazon and Cerrado/Chaco in Brazil and Bolivia and the Bolivian Yungas and humid and seasonally dry forests, but always associated with rivers and small streams ( Fig. 7 ). In the Bolivian Plant Catalog (http://www.tropicos.org/Name/50295510; JØrgensen et al., 2014), there is a citation of specimens for the department of La Paz, but this occurrence cannot be confirmed, since the images of the specimens could not be accessed. The preliminary conservation status of G. guacopary was assessed as Least Concern (LC) based on the broad range of occurrence (EOO) of 957,946 km ² and area of occupancy (AOO) of 32 km ² ( IUCN, 2012).

Specimens examined: BOLIVIA. Beni: Estación Biológica del Beni, 14°45’S, 65°40’W Alt : 200 m, 30 September 1988 (fl/ fr), D. E . Williams 714 ( NY image!) ; Santa Cruz: Toledo, 14°42’S, 61°09’W Alt : 160 m, 09 June 1994 (fr), R . Guillén & V . Choré 1776 ( F image!) . BRAZIL. Maranhão: Mun. Monção , 08 October 1987 (st), C . Monteiro et al., 22 ( HUEFS image!, RB!) ; Mato Grosso: Mun. Barra do Garças , 12 June 1966 (fl ♀), D. R . Hunt 5965 ( NY!); Mun. São Félix do Araguaia , 11°34’S, 50°43’W, 07 October 1985 (fr), W . Thomas et al., 4253 ( NY!); Rio Tapirapê , 27 October 1978 (fr), N. T . Silva 4910 ( NY!) ; Mato Grosso do Sul: Mun. Corumbá, Fazenda Santa Tereza , 18°16’28’’S, 57°25’15’’W, 28 September 2010 (fr), G . Martinelli 16612 ( RB! SPF image!) ; Pará: 03°53’S, 49°41’W, 01 November 1981 (fr), D. C . Daly et al., 1146 ( NY!); ibidem, 14 November 1981 (fr), D. C . Daly et al., 1327 ( NY!); ibidem, 07 April 2023 (fl/fr), T. M . Mouzinho 331 ( IAN!, INPA!) ; Tocantins: Parque Nacional do Araguaia , 10°30’S, 50°30’W (fr), J. A . Ratter et al., 4456 ( NY!); Mun. Caseara, Parque Estadual do Cantão , 09°15’13’’S, 49°50’53’’W, 15 January 2000 (fr), P. E . Nogueira et al., 655 ( UEC image!); Mun. Formoso do Araguaia , 11°27’56’’S, 49°42’04’’W, 07 October 2008 (fr), R. C . Mendonça et al., 6153 ( UEC image!) .

Notes: In taxonomic revisions for Brazil ( van den Berg, 1979; Mouzinho, 2022) Garcinia guacopary was not treated. In the current monograph of the genus for the Flora of Brazil ( Muniz, 2024), G. guacopary was considered as not validly published.

Specimens of G. guacopary from the Amazon were commonly determined as G. brasiliensis . However, G. brasiliensis is restricted to the Atlantic Forest domain ( Mouzinho et al., 2022). Among the Amazonian species with smooth epicarps, G. guacopary is similar to G. fluviatilis Mouzinho & L.Marinho but differs by the leaves with apiculate apex (vs. non-apiculate in G. fluviatilis ), conspicuous intramarginal vein (vs. inconspicuous), capitate stigma (vs. discoid), rostrum present (2-3 mm) (vs. absent), and a concresced trilobate stigma (vs. lobes not defined).

The organization of the six petals reported for pistillate flowers in G. guacopary is not by the floral pattern that corresponds to other Garcinia species in the neotropical region, as mentioned in the studies of Jones (1980), van den Berg (1979), Sweeney (2008), Medellín-Zabala (2015), Mouzinho (2022), and Gaudeul et al. (2024). These studies indicated that neotropical species had a homogeneous morphology, with four petals, rarely five ( Gaudeul et al., 2024), being one of the morphological characteristics that distinguished them from other related African species (e.g. G. commersonii [Planch. & Triana] Vesque), which have five petals. Mouzinho (2022) elucidated the organization of the corolla in Garcinia as external and internal petals, being structured in pairs and decussate. In contrast, in the pistillate flowers of G. guacopary , there are 4 to 6 petals; these are organized into 2 external and 4 internal ( Fig. 6 ). Considering it is a genus of dioecious plants, it is essential to investigate the staminate flowers of G. guacopary , not presented in this treatment, as well as to investigate in depth the evolution of floral morphology in a phylogenetic context, work that is in progress (Mouzinho, 2022).

The syntypes cited by Moore in the protologue of G. guacopary (Moore 332, 365, and 467; Moore, 1895) are all deposited at the BM herbarium, where most of his collections are housed. The tree branchlets representing the three collections are all mounted on the same sheet but have their own label and barcode. The collection Moore 332 (BM000583029) is the only one bearing reproductive parts (fruits) attached to the branchlet and the only one with a known existing duplicate (NY00076032) and therefore is here chosen as the lectotype. It is important to notice that, although the name was previously cited to Bolivia (http://www.tropicos.org/Name/50295510; JØrgensen et al., 2014) and neglected in treatments and floras from Brazil, the type is from the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, reported to the village of “Santa Cruz” which is nowadays the municipality of Barra do Bugres and where the Bugres river flows into the Paraguay River. The collections from Moore are reported along the village of Santa Cruz, in the margins of the Paraguay River; to avoid confusion, the collections of Moore do not refer to the municipality of Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia, and no record is known to Paraguay thus far.

Figures

Figure 3. Floral morphology of Garcinia guacopary (preserved in alcohol).A. Pistillate flower.B. Organizationof the perianth (abaxial view): sepals (green square), outer petals (blue star), and inner petals (red circle). Floral morphology of Garcinia bahiensis (preserved in alcohol). C. Staminate floral bud, arrow pointing to the apex. D. Staminate flower. E. Inner petal. F. Outer petal (scale = 2 mm). Images: Thiago Mouzinho.

Figure 5. Lectotype (BM000583029) of Garcinia guacopary (S.Moore) M.Nee deposited in the BM herbarium.

Figure 6. Garcinia guacopary. A. Leaf blade. B. Detail of the pistillate inflorescence. C. Ripe fruit. D. Pistillate flower and immature fruit. Images: Thiago Mouzinho.

Figure 7. Garcinia guacopary distribution map.