94. Guatteria maypurensis Kunth — Fig. 36h, 47; Map 23

Guatteria maypurensis Kunth (1821) 64; R.E.Fr. (1939) 473, f. 24c, d. —

Type: Von Humboldt & Bonpland 902 (holo P; iso B, C, HAL), Venezuela, Amazonas, Maypures.

Annona lanceolata Willd. ex Steud. (1840) 100, nom. nud.

Guatteria maypurensis Kunth var. attenuata R.E.Fr. (1939) 474. — Type: Spruce 3077 (holo K; iso BM, BR, E, F, G, GH, HAL, K, NY, P, W), Venezuela, Amazonas, San Carlos de Río Negro, Sept. 1853.

Guatteria maypurensis Kunth var. pulchra R.E.Fr. (1939) 474,t. 33. — Type: Ducke RB 29048 (holo S; iso MO, RB, SPF), Brazil, Amazonas, Rio Madeira, Humaitá, 29 June 1936.

Guatteria velezii R.E.Fr. (1948b) 8, pl. 3. — Type: Velez 2488 (holo S; iso US), Venezuela, Bolívar, Parguaza (‘Parguasa’), 23 Apr. 1946.

Guatteria calva R.E.Fr. (1948b) 9. — Type: Ll. Williams 14752 (holo US; iso F, G 2 sheets, NY, RB), Venezuela, Amazonas, Lower Río Casiquiare, Solano, 100 m, 11 Mar. 1942.

Shrub or small tree 1–5(–15) m tall, up to c. 15 cm diam (one specimen up to c. 40 cm!); young twigs glabrous or rarely covered with some scattered, appressed hairs. Leaves: petiole 5 –15 mm long, 1–1.5 mm diam; lamina often folded lengthwise in herbarium material, narrowly elliptic to elliptic, 5–17 by 2–5.5 cm (leaf index 2–3.6), chartaceous, glabrous, not verruculose, dull, greyish green above, brown below, glabrous above, glabrous or rarely covered with some scattered, appressed hairs below, base acute, extreme base long-attenuate, decurrent along petiole, apex mostly bluntly acuminate (acumen 5–10(–20) mm long), primary vein impressed or flat above, sometimes slightly keeled below, secondary veins indistinct, 10 –16 on either side of primary vein, raised above, smallest distance between loops and margin 2–4 mm, tertiary veins raised above, reticulate. Flowers in 1(–2)-flowered inflorescences in axils of leaves or rarely on leafless branchlets; pedicels 15–35 mm long, c. 1 mm diam, fruiting pedicels to c. 50 mm long, c. 2 mm diam, glabrous or sometimes covered with some appressed hairs in the basal 0.3, articulated at 0.2–0.5 from the base, bracts 5 – 6, soon falling, basal bracts broadly elliptic and c. 1 mm, upper ones (narrowly) elliptic or obovate and 6–10 mm long (one specimen seen with more or less foliaceous bract to c. 14 mm long, including short petiole halfway between base and articulation); flower buds depressed ovoid; sepals basally connate, broadly to shallowly ovate-triangular, 3–4 by 3–6 mm, appressed, but the very apex reflexed, outer side sparsely covered with appressed hairs to glabrous, apex more densely hairy; petals green, maturing cream, yellow or brownish in vivo, narrowly oblong-elliptic to obovate, 10–20 by 3–13 mm, outer side densely covered with appressed hairs; stamens 1–1.5 mm long, connective shield papillate to hairy. Monocarps 40–70, green, maturing red, black-purple to black in vivo, black to brown in sicco, narrowly oblongoid-ellipsoid, 9–11 by 3–4 mm, sparsely covered with appressed hairs, soon glabrous, apex apiculate (apiculum 0.1–0.2 mm long), wall 0.1–0.2 mm thick, stipes 3–10 by c. 1 mm. Seed narrowly oblong-ellipsoid, 8–10 by 3–4 mm, dark brown, shiny, pitted, raphe slightly raised.

Distribution — Colombia (Caquetá, Vichada), Venezuela (Amazonas, Apure), Guyana, Peru (Madre de Dios), Brazil (Amazonas, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Rondônia, Roraima), Bolivia (Beni, Santa Cruz).

Habitat & Ecology — In savannas (in Brazil (Amazonas) dominated by Antonia ovata, Bulbostylis sp. and Curatella americana and in Bolivia (Santa Cruz) dominated by Cybistax antisyphilitica, Brosimum gaudichaudii, Curatella americana and Simarouba sp.), sometimes in gallery forest, mostly on sandy soil. At elevations of 0– 600 m. Flowering: August to May; fruiting: June to March.

Vernacular names — Venezuela: Majagua (E. Marín 407), Majagua verde (Liesner 6367).

Field observations — Fruits formerly used for curare (Schultes et al. 24323 (ECON, GH, MO) from Colombia).

Note — Guatteria maypurensis is one of the few species of Guatteria that is mostly found in savanna-like vegetations. It is a shrub or small tree, with leaves that are mostly folded lengthwise in dry state; other features are the sepals that are distinctly connate in the basal third and the narrowly oblongoid-ellipsoid monocarps. These features distinguish it from G. foliosa, which it more or less resembles.