more images

Common name: 

Latin name and synonyms:  Aripuana Struwe, Maas, & V. Albert (1997)

Etymology: Aripuana is named after the river Rio Aripuanã in Brazil. The only species, Aripuana cullmaniorum, is named in honor of the philanthropists Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman of New York, NY, USA, who supports botanical research at The New York Botanical Garden.

Species: Only one, Aripuana cullmaniorum.

Distribution: Known only from a small area in the vicinity of the village Nova Aripuanã Prainha along the river Rio Aripuanã in central Brazil, in the southeastern part of Amazonas state. 

Habitat:  Lowland, white-sand savanna, also called Amazon caatinga.

Characteristics: Shrubs or small tree. Leaves petiolate, elliptic. Inflorescences terminal, many-flowered, with dichasial cymes, with scale-like bracts. Flowers 5-merous, erect. Calyx campanulate, small, thick, fused for more than 1/2 of its length, persistent in fruit; calyx lobes rounded, with a dorsal ridge. Corolla narrowly salver-shaped, up to 7 cm long, thin, white, with spreading lobes. Corolla aestivation (=lobe arrangement in bud) valvate at base of lobes and contort at apex, a unique state among all gentians. Stamens inserted at the base of corolla lobes, bent outwards from flower; filaments straight. Anthers oblong, slightly recurved, with small apical appendages. Pollen released as tetrads with reticulate exine. Gynoecium with basal glandular disk, with inrolled placentas; style long, slender; stigma bilamellate. Capsules erect with twisted, persistent styles. Seeds many, small, angular.

Evolution and related plants:  Aripuana belongs to the tribe Helieae, and is placed in the Symbolanthus subclade..

Economic uses:  None known.

Notes: The long, narrow and white corollas indicate possible hawkmoth-pollination, however, no field observations has been made of pollinators.

Accepted species (synonyms in parenthesis) and their distribution:

References and publications: 

Struwe, L., J. W. Kadereit, J. Klackenberg, S. Nilsson, M. Thiv, K. B. von Hagen, & V. A. Albert. 2002. Systematics, character evolution, and biogeography of Gentianaceae, including a new tribal and subtribal classification. Pp. 21-309. In: L. Struwe & V. A. Albert (eds.), Gentianaceae: Systematics and Natural History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Struwe, L., P. J. M. Maas, & V. A. Albert. 1997. Aripuana cullmaniorum, a new genus and species of Gentianaceae from white-sands of southeastern Amazonas, Brazil. Harvard Pap. Bot. 2: 235-253.

© Lena Struwe, 2004