1961] 



BOTAXY OF THE GUAYAXA HIGHLANDS PART IV (2) 



27 



Quapoya Aublet, Hist PI. Guiane Fr. 2:898. 1775. 



Bengifa Poeppig in Poeppig & Endlicher, Nov. Gen. & Sp. 3: 12. pi. 210. 1840. 



Dioecious; bracts decussate, often numerous, immediately subtending the 

 sepals; petals 5, small, often vittate; in the staminate flower stamens 10, 

 coalesced in a central umbraculiform mass, the anthers free, radiate and re- 

 curved, the thecae linear-oblong, lateral, laterally dehiscing; ovary completely 

 lacking; in the pistillate flower staminodia 5, free, complanate, erect, or lacking, 

 the ovary 5-locular, the ovules 2-seriate, the stigmas 5 ; fruit oblong-globular or 

 oblong, baccate; stigmas 5, distinct, disciform, somewhat elevated; seed narrowly 

 oblong, acute or acutish at both ends. 



Small trees, scandent shrubs or woody vines, apparently confined to rain- 

 forest areas, distributed broadly in the Amazon headwaters and hylea north 

 of the Amazon. 



Type species: Quapoya scandens Aublet. 



The genus is distinctly marked by the umbraculiform androecium of the 

 staminate flowers. This remarkable structure, superficially somewhat resembling 

 the antheridium of the liverwort Marchantia, is unique. Otherwise, Quapoya 

 would be indistinguishable from Clusia. 



Key to the Species of Quapoya 



1. Leaves obtuse or rounded at the apex, coriaceous. 



2. Midrib extended ca. % the length of the blade; blades broadly obovate, 8-10 cm 



long, abruptly short-pointed; petiole 7 mm or less long. 1. Quapoya scandens. 



2. Midrib extended nearly the full length of the blade; apex rounded, not abruptly 

 short-pointed ; petiole 10 mm or longer. 

 3. Leaf-blades obovate to oblanceolate ; primary lateral veins improminulous, but 



discernible; sepals 6, in 3 decussate pairs. 2. Quapoya sipapoana. 



3. Leaf -blades oblong to elliptic-oblong; primary lateral veins hardly discernible; 



sepals 15-17. 3. Quapoya froesii. 



1. Leaves acuminate at the apex, subcoriaceous. 



4. Paired bracts subtending flower numerous ; branches of inflorescence less than 2 cm 

 long; superior sepals 2.5-3.0 mm long; plants of coastal Guiana. 



•1. Quapoya bract eolata. 

 4. Bracts subtending flower a single pair; branches of inflorescence divaricate, com- 

 monly exceeding 2 cm in length; superior sepals ca. 5 mm long; plants of the 

 Upper Amazon watershed. 5. Quapoya peruviana. 



1. Quapoya scandens Aublet, Hist. PI. Guiane Fr. 2:898. pi. 433. 1775. 



Bengifa scandens (Aublet) Planchon & Triana, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 4. Bot. 14: 241. 1860. 

 Cayenne in 1775, Aublet s.n. (holotype BM, photo NY). 



Additional specimens examined: French Guiana: Godebert, 23 Jun 1921, Wachenlieim 292 

 (NY); Melinon in 1862, 389, 449 (P); Melinon s.n. (P). 



Though a well-marked species, Q. scandens has been little collected, and its 

 distribution is not well known. It is to be expected that it will be found in 

 much of coastal Guiana. 



2. Quapoya sipapoana Maguire, sp. nov. Fig. 30 A-H. 



Arbor parva; ramulis 3^4 mm diam., plus-minusve teretibus, conspicue 

 rimosis; foliis oppositis, petiolatis, laminis obovatis vel oblanceolatis, coriaceis, 

 vulgo 10-15 cm longis, 5-8 cm latis, ad apicem rotundatis obtusis, ad basim 

 obtusiuseulis, acutis, venis primariis improminulis, 3-7 mm separatis, 

 ad plus-minusve 45° adscendentibus ; canalibus laticiferis ad 70-80° adscendenti- 

 bus, subtus glanduloso-punctatis ; petiolis 12-20 mm longis ; inflorescentiis 



