PALMS Kahn : As t roca ryum yauape ryense Vo lume 45 (1 ) 2000

AstrocsryumysucrPeryense3A Synonytn ofAstrocsryummurumuruAstrocaryum yauaperyense Barbosa Rodrigues was tentatively treated as a synonym of

A. murumuru Martius from the similarity of the pistillate flowers (Kahn and Mill6n

1992). However, there is a contradiction in Barbosa Rodrigues (19O3): the text

discusses that he had no time to collect flowers, yet the illustrations include drawings

of pistillate flowers. New collections of Barbosa Rodrigues' palm corroborate Kahn

and MillSn's position.

Astrocaryum yzuaperyense was collected in theYauaperi River valley in 1884 by BarbosaRodrigues who described it as a new species someyears later (1888, 1891, 7902,7903). The authordid not collect flowers, as he wrote in his famousbook, Sertum Palmarum Brasiliensum (Yol; 2, p.80): "Tout mon temps 6tant occup6 par lapacification des sauvages Krichands de la rividreYauaperi, je n'ai pas eu le loisir de rechercher lesfleurs de cette espdce; c'est pourquoi la descriptionn'est pas plus compldte. N6anmoins, par le facidset par les caractdres que je d€cris, cette espdces'Eloigne de toutes celles connues." ("Because ofpacifying lftichan6s savages of Yauapery River allthe time, I could not search for flowers of thisspecies; this is the reason why my description isnot complete as it should be. Nevertheless, fromthe facies and characters I describe, this species iswell-distinct from the others"). Barbosa Rodrigues(1903) described the vegetative parts in particular(trunk, pinnae, peduncular bract) and, verysuccintly, the fruit " drupa turbinata, ftisca, aculeata"(i.e. "drupe with a reversed cone shape, sombrebroln, spiny").

There is no reference to a type or to any voucherscollected. A plate (Tabl. 80A) includes illustrations

FneNcrs KaHN

IRD (formerly ORS7rOM)

Ap. 17-12-857

Quito, Ecuador

of vegetative parts (part of leaf, rachis, apex ofpeduncular bract) and of a fruit, but also of anentire rachilla and of a pistillate flower with detailsof calyx, corolla, staminodial ring and gynoecium.The obvious contradiction between Barbosa.Rodrigues'text (no time to collect flowers) and thedrawing of a pistillate flower in Plate 80A makesit impossible to know the origin of this flower. Allthe vegetative and reproductive parts drawn arefrom one (or more) species which undoubtedlybelong(s) to section Ayri of subgenus Mono-gynanthus. The fruit seems to be unripe and isuninformative for i{entification at the specificlevel, but the pistillat€i flower is very similar tothat of A. murumura. Consequently Kahn andMill6n (1992) considered A. yauaperyense asynonym of A. murumuru,'however, reproductivematerial from this palm had to be collected andstudied in order to support this position.

Astrocaryum yauaperyense Rediscovered

The Jauaperi River (spelled Yauaperi on old maps)is a tributary of the Rio Negro. I visited the middleJauaperi valley in July-August 1993 where it iscrossed by highway BR 174 (Manaus-Venezuela).The species was there; I found it near Caracarai in

42 PALMS 45(1): 42-45

P A L M S Kahn: Astrocaryum yauaperyense V o l u m e 4 5 ( 1 ) 2 0 0 0

the Rio Branco River valley as well (Fig. 1). This rpalm usually forms dense stands in seasonal :swamp forests. It also grows in pastures which :have been increasing for the last 30 years with the r

opening of highway BR 774 and the resultingdevelopment of cattle ranching on vast areas.

The following vouchers were collected: Kqhn 3512(fl., fr.) CEN,31Jul 1993, Roraima,BRL74,35 kmnorth of Equatorial line, 20 km before JauaperiRiver Kahn 3515 (fr.), 3516, 3517 (seedling) CEN,1 Aug 1993, Roraima, Municipio Caracarai, 10 kmbefore the town via BR 1,74, on northern marginof Rio Branco River. Kahn 3540 (fl.) CEN, 28 Oct1993, Z0 km north of Caracarai.

Astrocaryum yauaperyense is a medium-sized,multistemmed palm with large pinnate leaves (Fig.2). Al the morphological characters of thevegetative parts fit the description of A. murumuru

1. Astrocaryum yauaperyense Barbosa Rodrigues (=.4.murumuru Martius) in the Amazon basin.

I

A

70"

Astroca ryu m m u ru m u ru Martius

Astrocaryum yauaperyense Barbosa Rodrigues

4 3

P A L M S Kahn : As t roca ryu m yauape ryense V o l u m e 4 5 ( 1 ) 2 0 0 0

fairly well. However, the great similarity ofvegetative parts in this group of palm species(section Ayri, subgenus Monogynanthus) Ied Kahnand Milldn (7992) to define the species usingreproductive characters, mainly (not exclusively)from those of the pistillate flower at anthesis andfruit at maturity.

The pistillate flower of Astrocaryum yauaperyense(Fig. 3 a-c) - calyx glabrous, clearly shorter thancorolla, cupular to shortly tubular, 3-denticulate;corolla spiny, slightly campanulate to tubular;staminodial ring adnate, U3-UZ as long as corolla- presents the morphological pattern whichcharacterizes group IV within section $'ri (Kahnand Mill6n 1992). This group includes threespecies: A. murumuru Martius; A. chonta Martius -

distinct by the staminodial ring low, often reducedto 6 teeth; and A. ulei Butet - easy to identifyfrom the calyx cupular, very short, usually lessthan 114 as long as corolla, this oblong to cask-shaped. The pistillate flower of A. yauaperyense isvery similar to that of A. murumuru and differs inthe same way from flowers of A. chonta and A.ulei.

The fruit of A. yauaperyense (Fig. 3 d-f) is usuallyell ipsoid to ovoid, 5.7 x 3.5 cm, with a shortpedicel, to 1.6 cm long, an epicarp slightly or notpilose at maturity, and a mesocarp remarkablyfleshy. It differs in shape from that of A. murumuruwhich is most frequently turbinate. However, sucha difference may depend on a higher reproductiverate and on a higher density of fruits on the rachiswhich develop mutually compressed into a

2. The palm inthe f ield, nearCaracarai.

turbinate shape. Fruits of A. chonta and A. uleidiffer from those of both former taxa in smallersize, in an epicarp usually densely pilose, amesocarp less fleshy, and in characters of perianth- a corolla slightly folded at margin in A. chonta,a calyx remarkably short in A. ulei.

Moreover, these two species are single-stemmedpalms which grow on periodically flooded alluvialsoils and on clay soils, respectively. Astrocaryumyauaperyense and A. murumuru are multistemmedpalms, mainly found in seasonal swamp forests.

Conclusion

The new material collected in the Jauaperi Rivervalley, as well as data on palm habits and ecology,provide convincing arguments in favor of treatingAstrocaryum yautperyense as a synonym ofAstrocaryum murumuru sensu Maftius (not ofHenderson's concept of A. murumuru). ln fact,Henderson (1995) transformed Astrocaryummurumuru into a broadly defined species andtreated the related taxd as varieties ot ui ty.tott1otttof these. In particular, he considered Astrocaryumyauaperyense a s)''nonym of his variety murumuruwhich also includes A. chonta and A. ulei, two veryclose species, as seen above. At this point, theranking at infraspecific level would be consistent.The problem which makes his treatmentimpossible to apply is that he also treatedAstrocaryum gratum Kahn et Milldn as a synonymof. var. murumuru. Astrocaryum gratum clearlydiffers from the former taxa in the morphologicalpattern of its pistillate flower as well as in other

44

P A L M S Kahn : As t roca ryum yauape ryense V o l u m e 4 5 ( 1 ) 2 0 0 0

3 m m

2cm

3. Astrocaryumyauaperyense BarbosaRodrigues (=A. murumuruMartius), from Kahn 351.2(CEN) - a) pistillate flower;b) staminodial r ing adnateinside corol la; c)gynoecium; d) ripe fruitwith short pedicel; e)perianth in fruit (outside);f) perianth in fruit withstaminodial r ing ( inside).

f

reproductive and vegetative characters. Thisspecies is very close to Astrocaryum macrocalyxBurret, A. perangustafitm Kahn et Mill6n and A.urostachys Burret - the four species forming groupIII in section Ayri (see Kahn and Mill6n 1992).Henderson treated these three latter species asthree varieties, each distinct from var. muntmuru,but he did not discuss his position about A. gratum- included in var. murumuru - although it wouldhave been coherent to consider it as a differentvariety as well.

We shall never be sure of the origin of the pistillateflowers drawn by Barbosa Rodrigues (1903) in Plate80A; but at least we can say that they correspondvery well to a pistillate flower of A. murumuru andof A. yauaperyense as rediscovered. Because of thisdoubt about the origin of the flower, Plate 80Acannot be a lectotype as it was referred to byGlassman (1972).I propose the voucherKahn 3512(CEN) as a neotype for the name Astrocaryumyauaperyense Barbosa Rodrigues.

This note brings me to the following conclusion:Taxonomists must argue from complete databefore deciding whether a taxon is a new one. Ifknowledge is incomplete or data confused - e.g.,the contradiction between drawings and text byBarbosa Rodrigues, and lack of herbariumcollections - the status quo is best maintained orthe taxon should be considered as uncertain. Kahnand Mill5,n's decision (1992) in considering A.yauaperyense as a synonym of A. murumuru was

somewhat premature, but this position has nowproved to be consistent with new material of thepalm.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the internationalagreement IRD (formerly Orstom), France/EMBMPA-CENARGEN, Brazil.

LttpRerunl Crrs,p

Bansosa RoonIGuEs, J. 1888. Palmae AmazonensesNovae. Vellosia 1: 33-56.

Bansosa RoonrcuEs, J. 1891. Palmae AmazonensesNovae. Vellosia 2: 91-112.

BaRsose RolRrcuES, J. 1902. Palmae-Amylocarpus.Contr. Jard. Bot. Rio de Janeiro, 3: 69-88.

Bansosa Rolnrcur,s, J. 1903. Sertum PalmarumBrasil iensium, ou relation des palmiersnouveaux du Br6sil, d6couverts, d6crits etdessin6s d'aprds nature. Imprimerie Monnom,Bruxelles, 2 vol.

GTASSvAN, S.F. 1g7Z.A Revision of B. E. Dahlgren'sIndex of American Palms. PhanerogamarumMonographiae Tomus VI, Verlag VonJ. Cramer,Lehre.

HrNoEnsoN, A. 1995. The palms of the Amazon.Oxford University Press, New York.

K-IHN, F. aNr B. MnrAN,1.992. Astrocaryum (Palmae)in Amazonia. A preliminary treatment. Bull. Inst.fr. Et. andines 2-J,: 459-531.

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