Coccoloba gigantifolia

Coccoloba gigantifolia is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae. It is endemic[1] to the Madeira River Basin in the states of Amazonas and Rondonia in the central and southwestern Brazilian Amazon. This species resembles that of Coccoloba mollis but differs in that it has much larger leaves in its fertile branches.[1][2]

Coccoloba gigantifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Coccoloba
Species:
C. gigantifolia
Binomial name
Coccoloba gigantifolia
E. Melo, C.A. Cid Ferreira & R. Gribel

Description

Coccoloba gigantifolia is a tree which grows to about 15 meters (49 feet) in height and has leaves that can reach 2.5 meters (8 feet) in length, likely has the largest known leaf among dicotyledonous plants.[3] In addition to the large leaves, it can be distinguished from its congeners by the species straight trunk with transverse rings, articulated petiole inserted in the base of the ochrea in its leaves, its general pubescence, and the presence of a hollow medulla in the branches.[1]

Botanical history

The plant was first observed in the Canumã River, a tributary of Madeira River, during an expedition in 1982, but no specimen was collected due to lack of fertile parts. Again in 1986, an expedition led by the botanist Juan Revilla, found and made a photographic record of a very large-leaved, but sterile Coccoloba individual near Porto Velho city, in the state of Rondônia, still no herbarium specimen was collected. Between 1989 and 1993 during several expeditions at Jamari National Forest Reserve, 14 individual were found and some large leaves were collected eventhough the species were sterile. Individuals of large-leaved Coccoloba were again photographed by Silvestre Silva in 1995 at a vicinal road connecting the city of Autazes to the left bank of the Madeira River, about 110 km southeast of Manaus. Finally, an August 2005 expedition on another area in the vicinity of Jamari Forest Reserve led to the collection of fertile samples of inflorescences, along with fallen mature fruits and seeds beneath one individual tree.[1]

Etymology

The specific epithet gigantifolia is in reference to the species unusual leaf proportion.[1]

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References
  1. "A new species of Coccoloba P. Browne (Polygonaceae) from the Brazilian Amazon with exceptionally large leaves". scielo.br. Retrieved 2020-02-07. Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
  2. "Species New to Science: [Botany • 2019] Coccoloba gigantifolia (Polygonaceae) • A New Species of Coccoloba P. Browne from the Brazilian Amazon with Exceptionally Large Leaves". novataxa.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  3. "Amazonian tree with human-sized leaves finally gets ID'd as new species". news.mongabay.com. Retrieved 2020-02-07.


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