Guatteria elegans Scharf

Maas, P. J. M., Westra, L. Y. T., Guerrero, S. Arias, Lobão, A. Q., Scharf, U., Zamora, N. A. & Erkens, R. H. J., 2015, Confronting a morphological nightmare: revision of the Neotropical genus Guatteria (Annonaceae), Blumea 60 (1), pp. 1-219 : 77

57. Guatteria elegans Scharf — Map 13

Guatteria elegans Scharf in Scharf et al. (2006a) 121, f. 2. — Type: Feuillet et al. 10256 (holo NY; iso BBS, K, M, U 2 sheets), French Guiana, Régina, Mt Tortue , 11 km WNW of the Approuague River, along road direction of Cayenne, 200–450 m, 18 June 1988.

Treelet c. 4 m tall, diam not recorded; young twigs sparsely to densely covered with appressed hairs, soon glabrous. Leaves: petiole 3–5 mm long, c. 1 mm diam; lamina narrowly elliptic, 10–16 by 3–4 cm (leaf index 2.7–4), chartaceous to subco- riaceous, not verruculose, dark brown above, brown below, glabrous above, except for sparsely hairy primary vein when young, sparsely covered with appressed hairs below, base acute, apex acuminate (acumen 15–25 mm long), primary vein slightly impressed to flat above, secondary veins distinct, 5–8 on either side of primary vein, impressed above, angle of secondary vein with primary vein 30–40°, smallest distance between loops and margin 2–3 mm, tertiary veins slightly raised above, percurrent to reticulate. Flowers solitary on leafless branchlets; fruiting pedicels 20–25 mm long, 1–1.5 mm diam, sparsely covered with appressed hairs, soon glabrous, articulated at c. 0.2 from the base, bracts 5–6, soon falling, not seen; flower buds not seen; sepals free, shallowly ovate-triangular, c. 2 by 3 mm, apically reflexed, glabrous; petals and stamens not seen. Monocarps 10– 25, green in vivo, blackish brown in sicco, ellipsoid, 7–8 by 4–5 mm, sparsely covered with appressed hairs, soon glabrous, apex apiculate (apicu- lum 0.5–1 mm long), wall 0.1–0.2 mm thick, stipes 11–15 by c. 0.5 mm. Seed ellipsoid, 6–7 by c. 4 mm, pale brown, pitted to transversely grooved, raphe not distinct from rest of seed.

Distribution — French Guiana.

Habitat & Ecology — In low, non-inundated (‘montane’) rain forest, on lateritic soil. At elevations of 200– 450 m. Flowering: unknown; fruiting: June.

Vernacular names — Not recorded.

Note — Guatteria elegans , only known from the type collection, is recognizable by the low number of secondary veins (5–8) for the genus.A sharp angle of 30–40° between primary vein and secondaries is not occurring in any other Guatteria species in the Guianas and Brazilian Amazonia.