''Alfaroa'' is a genus of evergreen trees in the
Juglandaceae
The Juglandaceae are a plant family known as the walnut family. They are trees, or sometimes shrubs, in the order Fagales. Members of this family are native to the Americas, Eurasia, and Southeast Asia.
The nine or ten genera in the family have ...
family of the
Fagales, growing in montane and submontane tropical rain forests in Central America. The wood is characterized by solid pith, pink heartwood, and vessels with scalariform perforations, as well as simple perforations.
Description
The (usually
pinnately compound) leaves are evergreen and lack
stipule
In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole (botany), petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part ...
s. They are alternate, rarely opposite.
The plants are monoecious, the male flowers being in lateral panicles (several pairs of catkins on an inflorescence) and the female flowers born terminally either in a single spike or in a hermaphroditic panicle including several paired male catkins. Each flower has a wide bract, two bracteoles, and four sepals. The flowers are sessile. The male flowers have a round or oblong receptacle and six to ten stamens. The pollen grains are approximately 24 micrometers in diameter and are slightly triangular in polar view.
The small fruits are nuts, one-chambered at the apex and eight-chambered (sometimes four-chambered) at the base. Germination is
hypogeal.
Species
''Alfaroa'' includes the following species (This list may be incomplete):
* ''
A. columbiana'', G. Lozano-C., J. Hernandez-C., & S. Espinal-T.
* ''
A. costaricensis'',
Standl. —Campano Chile, Chiciscua, Gaulin, Gavilancillo
* ''
A. guanacastensis'', D. E. Stone
* ''
A. guatemalensis'', (
Standl.) L. O. Williams & A. Molina 1970
* ''
A. hondurensis'', L.O. Williams 1959
* ''
A. manningii'', Jorge Leon
* ''
A. mexicana'', D. E. Stone
* ''
A. roxburghiana'' (
Wall.) I. A. Iljinsk.
* ''
A. williamsii'', A. Modina R.
''A. guatemalensis'' and ''A. roxburghiana'' were originally described as belonging to the genus ''
Engelhardia''. The monotypic genus ''Alfaropsis'' I. A. Iljinsk has also been erected for ''A. roxburghiana''.
References
Elliott, L. L., Mindell, R. A., & Stockey, R. A., "''Beardia vancouverensis'' Gen. et Sp. Nov. (Juglandaceae): Permineralized Fruits from the Eocene of British Columbia", ''American Journal of Botany'' 93(4): 557–565, 2006
Manchester, Steven R., "Fossil Wood of the Engelhardieae (Junglandaceae) from the Eocene of North America: ''Engelhardioxylon'' Gen. Nov.", ''Bot. Gasz'' 144(1)157-163, 1983.
J. A. Vozzo (ed.) ''Tropical Tree Seed Manual'' "Part II—Species Descriptions", USDA Forest Service
Engelhardioideae
Fagales genera
Flora of the Neotropical realm
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Fagales-stub