| Field notes | Slender tree, 4 m high, diameter 16 cm. Wood very hard with white sap and black heart. Young branches and rachises with four longitudinal furrows, mature more or less terete in cross section. Leaves modular (few to c. 10 clustered together) and in a distichous phyllotaxy. Leaves have 11-15 pairs of leaflets, stipules are filamentous and early caducous. Inflorescences are terminally inserted, to 18 cm in diameter. Bracts, sepals, petals and apices of stamens are bright red. Bracteoles and anthers are orange or yellow. Nectar is secreted from the bottom of the hypanthium. 1-4 pods develop per inflorescence. Local name: Palo de cruz (spanish), Cruz caspi (Quichua). Uses: A drink is prepared from the flowers to shorten womens periods and as a means of contraception. Information from Victoriano Criollo and his wife Angelica. Additional material (flower bud and flowers in alcohol, seedlings, wood) in AAU. |
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