Lysiloma auritum (Schltdl.) Benth.

S. W. Gale, & Pennington, T. (2004). Lysiloma (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae) in Mesoamerica. Kew Bulletin, 59(3), 453-467. doi:10.2307/4110952

Type

Mexico, Malpays de Naulinco, April 1829, Schiede & Deppe s.n. (holotype: BM!).

Morphology General Habit

Shrub to small or medium sized tree 3 - 15(- 20) m tall, with heavy branching and an open spreading crown

Morphology General Bark

Bark white-grey to dark brown, rough, scaling into thin plates

Morphology Trunk Slash

Slash/sapwood pale peach/pink with a faint sweet smell

Morphology Leaves Stipules

Stipules 4 - 8 mm long, ovate to triangular, apex acute or obtuse, or occasionally large and conspicuous, ovate to cordate, 1 - 2 cm long and 0.6 -1 cm wide, asymmetric and membranous, clustered at the apex of young shoots; caducous

Morphology Leaves

Leaves (7.8 -)10 - 17(- 23.5) cm long; petioles (0.7 -)1- 1.8(-2.5) cm long, bearing a peg-shaped pubescent gland within 6 mm of the base of the first pair of pinnae; gland either conical to cylindrical and up to 1.8 mm tall and narrow, or ellipsoid with a flattened apex, lower and broader at the base, up to 2 mm long at the base; rachis (6.5 -)9.3 - 14.4(- 15.7) cm long, hirsute to lanate with a very dense cover of long curly white hairs to 0.5 mm long, especially on recently flushed leaves, with 0 - 3 peg-like or flatter ellipsoid glabrous or weakly pubescent glands towards rachis apex at base of terminal pinnae pairs; pinnae (12 -)16 - 23(- 34) pairs per leaf, pinnae rachises hirsute to lanate often densely so, with long white hairs often giving a 'bottle-brush' appearance

Morphology Leaves Leaflets

Leaflets (32 -) 36 - 50(- 57) pairs per pinna, 1.8 - 3(- 4) mm long, 0.5 - 1.0 mm wide, narrow linear to oblong, sometimes falcate, apex obtuse, base strongly asymmetric with the midrib displaced towards the anterior margin throughout the length of the leaflet, secondary veins not visible, margins ciliate, otherwise glabrous, tightly aligned along the pinnae rachises with 0.5 - 1 mm separating adjacent leaflet petiolules, strongly imbricate

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences 2- 7 per fascicle, rarely solitary, at leaf axils and leafless nodes and often compound with partial inflorescences on leafless axillary shoots, capitula subglobose to ellipsoid or rarely globose heads, the floral axis 2 - 4(- 5.5) mm long

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers

Flowers sweetly scented, pedicels 0.6 - 2 mm long, floral bracteoles linear, pubescent, up to 2 mm long, caducous at anthesis; calyx pubescent, cream to pale pink, 1.2 - 2 mm long, corolla ± twice as long as the calyx, cream white, the lobes barbate; filaments cream, anthers pale yellow

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Pods dehiscing craspedially (the valves detaching along the sutural ridges), red-brown or green, oblong to elliptic, (7.9 -)9.5 - 14 cm long, (0.9 -)1.5 - 2.7(-3.5) cm wide, occasionally twisted, margins parallel or sinuate, the base acute, the apex obtuse or acute; exocarp thin, chartaceous, scaling into brittle fragments; peduncles slender, 0.8 - 1 mm diameter, 2 - 3.8 cm long; stipe slender, 1.5(- 2) cm long, with 1- 4 pods per capitulum.

Vernacular

Quebracho (Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua), Quebracho blanco (El Salvador), Quitaz (Mexico), Shashibtez (Mexico), Sicahuite (El Salvador), Tepehuaje (Mexico), Tzeltal (Mexico).

Distribution

Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and northwest Costa Rica (Guanacaste).

Ecology

Common in cut-over and degraded dry forest as well as in primary mixed pine and oak forest, growing in valleys and on hillsides from 420 to 1600 m altitude. Associated species include Acacia pennatula, Calliandra houstoniana, Enterolobium cyclocarpum, Gliricidia sepium, Leucaena salvadorensis, Lysiloma acapulcense, Mimosa tenuiflora and Cochlospermum and Hymenaea species.

Note

Lysiloma aurita typically has the smallest leaflets and most pairs of pinnae per leaf of all the Central American Lysiloma species, giving rise to crowded and intricate foliage. The leaflets are usually tightly aligned along the pinna rachis and with very short petiolules the bases of opposite pairs of leaflets often overlap, sometimes obscuring the pinnular rachis altogether, especially on recently flushed leaves. Furthermore, like L. acapulcense (but unlike L. divaricata and L. latisiliqua), the leaflets usually fold in along the pinnula rachis on dried specimens. L. aurita frequently has large foliaceous stipules that are clustered at the end of young flowering shoots, though these are caducous and so typically absent from herbarium specimens. Its flowers are distinct for having long pedicels visible to the naked eye.

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation

Predicted extinction risk: not threatened. Confidence: confident

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/146770521/146770524

Conservation

LC - least concern

Use

Used in construction and for firewood and posts.