Tachigali inca (Caesalpinioideae – leguminosae), a new species of giant tree from amazonian forests

Abstract

The new species Tachigali inca is described and illustrated. It grows in low-land ‘terra firme’ forest of Amazonian Brazil, in the sub-Andean Amazon region of Peru, and in northeastern Bolivia. The species differs markedly from its most closely related species (T. amarumayu, T. prancei and T. setifera, all belonging to the “setifera group”), by the large cylindrical domatia on the leaf rachis, and by the brown-orange pulverulent indumentum on the abaxial surface of the leaflets and the young twigs; on older branches the indumentum becomes darker, degrades and then breaks off. It also differs by its linear petals with the upper half densely tomentose, the hairs forming small tufts.