Bagassa
Encyclopedia
Bagassa guianensis is a tree in the plant family Moraceae
which is native to the Guianas and Brazil
. It is valued as a timber tree and as a food tree for wildlife. The juvenile leaves are distinctly different in appearance from the mature leaves, and were once thought to belong to different species.
-producing, dioecious
, deciduous
tree which reaches heights of up 45 metres (147.6 ft) and a diameter at breast height
of 190 centimetres (74.8 in). Leaves are deeply three-lobed in juveniles, but become entire as the tree matures. They are usually 6–22 cm (2.4–8.7 in) long, sometimes up to 30 centimetres (11.8 in) long, and 4–17 cm (1.6–6.7 in) wide (sometimes up to 23 centimetres (9.1 in) wide).
Male and female flowers are borne on separate inflorescence
s. Male inflorescences are arranged in a spike, which is 4–12 cm (1.6–4.7 in) long. Female inflorescences are arranged into a compact head which is 1 to 1.5 cm (0.393700787401575 to 0.590551181102362 in) in diameter. The edible infructescence
s are 2.5 to 3.5 cm (0.984251968503937 to 1.4 in) in diameter.
genus—in includes only one species, B. guianensis. The genus was established in 1775 by French botanist Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet
in his description of the species. Aublet's description was based on juvenile leaves together with infructescences. Based on mature leaves and male inflorescences French botanist Nicaise Auguste Desvaux
described Piper
tiliifolium in 1825 and Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré
described Laurea tiliifolia in 1844. Raymond Benoist transferred these to Bagassa as B. tiliifolia in 1933. In 1880 Louis Édouard Bureau
described B. sagotiana based on mature leaves and female inflorescences. Plants with juvenile and adult foliage were thought to belong to different species until at least 1975; in his 1975 treatment of the Moraceae
for the Flora of Suriname, Dutch systematist Cornelis Berg maintained B. guianensis and B. tiliifolia as separate species—the former with lobed juvenile foliage, the latter with the entire leaves of mature trees (although he maintained this distinction with reservations). This confusion would later be clarified through observations of live trees in the field.
. In Suriname
is it known as gele bagasse, jawahedan, kauhoedoe or kaw-oedoe. In French Guiana
it is called bacasse, bagasse, odon or odoun. In Maranhão
state in Brazil it is called tatajuba or tareka'y; in Pará
it is known as amaparana, taraiko'i or tatajuba; in Roraima
it is called tatajuba.
, Suriname
, French Guiana
and the northern Amazon basin
(in the states of Amapá
, Pará, Maranhão and Roraima) with an apparently disjunct
population in the southwestern states of Mato Grosso
and Rondônia
.
forests and tree-fall gaps.
Although the structure of B. guianensis flowers suggests bat-pollination, Berg suggested that they might be wind-pollinated
since the trees were "tall and deciduous". Direct observation suggests that pollination is primarily by thrips
, although the thrips themselves may be dispersed by wind. One study in Pará, Brazil, suggests that on average, seeds were produced by pollen that had travelled between 308 and 961 m (1,010.5 and 3,152.9 ) from the male flowers that produced the pollen to the female flowers that were pollinated.
The seeds of B. guianensis are dispersed by a variety of animals including monkeys, birds, deer, rodents and tortoises.
Moraceae
Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — are a family of flowering plants comprising about 40 genera and over 1000 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates...
which is native to the Guianas and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. It is valued as a timber tree and as a food tree for wildlife. The juvenile leaves are distinctly different in appearance from the mature leaves, and were once thought to belong to different species.
Description
Bagassa guianensis is a large, latexLatex
Latex is the stable dispersion of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium. Latexes may be natural or synthetic.Latex as found in nature is a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants . It is a complex emulsion consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins,...
-producing, dioecious
Dioecious
Dioecy is the property of a group of biological organisms that have males and females, but not members that have organs of both sexes at the same time. I.e., those whose individual members can usually produce only one type of gamete; each individual organism is thus distinctly female or male...
, deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
tree which reaches heights of up 45 metres (147.6 ft) and a diameter at breast height
Diameter at breast height
Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements....
of 190 centimetres (74.8 in). Leaves are deeply three-lobed in juveniles, but become entire as the tree matures. They are usually 6–22 cm (2.4–8.7 in) long, sometimes up to 30 centimetres (11.8 in) long, and 4–17 cm (1.6–6.7 in) wide (sometimes up to 23 centimetres (9.1 in) wide).
Male and female flowers are borne on separate inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
s. Male inflorescences are arranged in a spike, which is 4–12 cm (1.6–4.7 in) long. Female inflorescences are arranged into a compact head which is 1 to 1.5 cm (0.393700787401575 to 0.590551181102362 in) in diameter. The edible infructescence
Infructescence
Infructescence is defined as the ensemble of fruits derived from ovaries of an inflorescence, structured according to the inflorescence scheme....
s are 2.5 to 3.5 cm (0.984251968503937 to 1.4 in) in diameter.
Taxonomy
Bagassa is a monotypicMonotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus—in includes only one species, B. guianensis. The genus was established in 1775 by French botanist Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet
Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet
Jean Baptiste Christophore Fusée Aublet was a French pharmacist, botanist and explorer.Born in Salon-de-Provence, he joined the French East India Company and in 1752 was sent to Mauritius to establish a pharmacy and a botanical garden. He worked there for nine years...
in his description of the species. Aublet's description was based on juvenile leaves together with infructescences. Based on mature leaves and male inflorescences French botanist Nicaise Auguste Desvaux
Nicaise Auguste Desvaux
-Works:*Journal de Botanique, appliquée à l'Agriculture, à la Pharmacie, à la Médecine et aux Arts .*Observations sur les plantes des environs d'Angers ....
described Piper
Piper (genus)
Piper, the pepper plants or pepper vines , are an economically and ecologically important genus in the family Piperaceae...
tiliifolium in 1825 and Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré
Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré
Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré was a French botanist.He was born in Angoulême, the son of J-J. Gaudichaud and Rose Gaudichaud. He studied pharmacology at Cognac and Angoulême. He also studied chemistry and herbology.His greatest claim to fame was serving as botanist on a circumglobal expedition from...
described Laurea tiliifolia in 1844. Raymond Benoist transferred these to Bagassa as B. tiliifolia in 1933. In 1880 Louis Édouard Bureau
Louis Édouard Bureau
Louis Édouard Bureau was a French physician and botanist.Bureau began his medical studies in Nantes in 1848, where he held the post of director of the Muséum de Nantes . He completed his medical degree in Paris in 1852...
described B. sagotiana based on mature leaves and female inflorescences. Plants with juvenile and adult foliage were thought to belong to different species until at least 1975; in his 1975 treatment of the Moraceae
Moraceae
Moraceae — often called the mulberry family or fig family — are a family of flowering plants comprising about 40 genera and over 1000 species. Most are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates...
for the Flora of Suriname, Dutch systematist Cornelis Berg maintained B. guianensis and B. tiliifolia as separate species—the former with lobed juvenile foliage, the latter with the entire leaves of mature trees (although he maintained this distinction with reservations). This confusion would later be clarified through observations of live trees in the field.
Common names
The species is known locally as "cow wood", katowar, tuwue or yawahedan in GuyanaGuyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
. In Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
is it known as gele bagasse, jawahedan, kauhoedoe or kaw-oedoe. In French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
it is called bacasse, bagasse, odon or odoun. In Maranhão
Maranhão
Maranhão is a northeastern state of Brazil. To the north lies the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão is neighbored by the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...
state in Brazil it is called tatajuba or tareka'y; in Pará
Pará
Pará is a state in the north of Brazil. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest it also borders Guyana and Suriname, and to the northeast it borders the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Belém.Pará is the most populous state...
it is known as amaparana, taraiko'i or tatajuba; in Roraima
Roraima
Roraima is the northernmost and least populated state of Brazil, located in the Amazon region. It borders the states of Amazonas and Pará, as well as the nations of Venezuela and Guyana. The population is 400,000 and the capital is Boa Vista...
it is called tatajuba.
Distribution
Bagassa guianensis is found in GuyanaGuyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
, Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
, French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
and the northern Amazon basin
Amazon Basin
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
(in the states of Amapá
Amapá
Amapá is one of the states of Brazil, located in the extreme north, bordering French Guiana and Suriname to the north. To the east is the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south and west is the Brazilian state of Pará. Perhaps one of the main features of the state is the River Oiapoque, as it was once...
, Pará, Maranhão and Roraima) with an apparently disjunct
Disjunct distribution
In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but widely separated from each other geographically...
population in the southwestern states of Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest...
and Rondônia
Rondônia
Rondônia is a state in Brazil, located in the north-western part of the country. To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso, and in the south is Bolivia. Its capital is Porto Velho. The state was named after Candido Rondon...
.
Ecology
Bagassa guianensis is a "long-lived pioneer" that frequently established in second growthSecondary forest
A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a major disturbance such as fire, insect infestation, timber harvest or windthrow, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident...
forests and tree-fall gaps.
Although the structure of B. guianensis flowers suggests bat-pollination, Berg suggested that they might be wind-pollinated
Anemophily
Anemophily or wind pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen is distributed by wind. Anemophilous plants may be either gymnosperms or angiosperms ....
since the trees were "tall and deciduous". Direct observation suggests that pollination is primarily by thrips
Thrips
Thrips are tiny, slender insects with fringed wings . Other common names for thrips include thunderflies, thunderbugs, storm flies, thunderblights, and corn lice...
, although the thrips themselves may be dispersed by wind. One study in Pará, Brazil, suggests that on average, seeds were produced by pollen that had travelled between 308 and 961 m (1,010.5 and 3,152.9 ) from the male flowers that produced the pollen to the female flowers that were pollinated.
The seeds of B. guianensis are dispersed by a variety of animals including monkeys, birds, deer, rodents and tortoises.