Alfaroa manningii
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Alfaroa manningii is aspecies of tree from the walnut family(Juglandaceae) endemic to Costa Rica . In the area where it occurs, the species is a valued timber. The specific epithet honors the American botanist Wayne Eyer Manning (1899-2004).
features
Alfaroa manningii is a tree up to 24 m high and reaches chest height diameters of up to 90 cm. Buttress roots are small to medium in size. The bark is reddish brown on the outside, pink on the inside and turns orange to yellow on the inside. The buds and branches are bare.
The leaves are opposite and bare. The leaf stalks are 5 to 9 cm long, the rachis 90 to 230, rarely 50 to 290 cm long. The leaf consists of 8 to 12, rarely 6 to 18 leaflets, which are opposite or almost opposite, with entire margins and symmetrical. They are slightly rolled back at the leaf margin, the leaflet stalk is 2 to 5 mm long.
The female inflorescences are terminal on this year's shoots and are stiff and upright. Each ear contains 40 to 50 flowers. The male catkins stand individually or up to six alternately or opposite each other and together form a contracted panicle at the end of this year's shoots or they are formed by side buds on previous year's shoots. They are up to 18 cm long, are long and drooping to bloom. Androgynous panicles in which male catkins are below and a female ear above are also rare.
The male flowers give off a gardenia- like scent, they are not stalked. On the three-lobed bract there are four flower segments that form a hood and each of which encloses three of the total of 12 stamens . The pollen is almost triangular in polar view and has a diameter of 21.7 micrometers. The female flowers are petiolate. The base of the flower is formed by fusing a slightly three-lobed support sheet with a front sheet edge. The four calyx lobes extend over the stigma and form a chamber during flowering. One stylus is missing. The scar lobes are horseshoe-shaped.
The fruit is broadly ovate, up to 3.5 cm in diameter and 3 cm long. The tip is slightly concave. The calyx remains as a 4 to 5 mm long beak. At the base sits the rather circular flap, which is up to 16 mm in size and made from the support and cover sheet. The shell is uneven, 1 to 7.5 mm thick, the surface deeply grooved with 8 to 12 distinct longitudinal ribs from the tip to the equator, which then disappear towards the base. The nutshell is 1 to 2 mm thick and hard when fresh.
The first two leaves of the seedling that appear outdoors are simple, opposite or alternate, and with entire margins. The next leaves are put together. The later sheets are then also opposite and have entire margins.
Distribution and locations
Alfaroa manningii occurs only in a small area in Costa Rica , around Platanillo in the northeast of the province of Cartago . The sometimes very large trees grow in the rainforest at 650 to 1200 m above sea level. Fruiting specimens are only known from the vicinity of the Rio Platanillo . It often grows together with Oreomunnea pterocarpa .
supporting documents
- Donald E. Stone: Juglandaceae , in: William Burger (Ed.): Flora Costaricensis , Fieldiana Botany, Volume 40, 1977, pp. 28-53, ISSN 0015-0746