''Bagassa guianensis'' is a tree in the plant family Moraceae which is native to the

Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. 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,

latex Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...

-producing,

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

tree which reaches heights of up and a diameter at breast height of . The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are deeply three-lobed in juveniles, but become entire as the tree matures. They are usually long, sometimes up to long, and wide (sometimes up to wide). Male and female flowers are borne on separate

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. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s. Male inflorescences are arranged in a spike, which is long. Female inflorescences are arranged into a compact head which is in diameter. The infructescences are in diameter.

Taxonomy

''Bagassa'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus—it 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 Raymond Benoist (10 June 1881, Vendresse – 17 January 1970) was a French botanist and entomologist. He is known for his research involving the plant family Acanthaceae. He studied botany in Paris, receiving his doctorate in 1912. Following g ...

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 Cornelis Christiaan (Cees) Berg (1934–2012) was a Dutch botanist known for his work on the plant family Moraceae. Early life and education Berg was born on 7 February 1934 in Bandung, Indonesia, then part of the Dutch East Indies, and later mov ...

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

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

. In

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

is it known as ''gele bagasse'', ''jawahedan'', ''kauhoedoe'' or ''kaw-oedoe''. In

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

it is called ''bacasse'', ''bagasse'', ''odon'' or ''odoun''. In

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

state in Brazil it is called ''tatajuba'' or ''tareka'y''; in

Pará Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...

it is known as ''amaparana'', ''taraiko'i''''Taraiko'i'' is a

Tupi Tupi may refer to: * Tupi people of Brazil * Tupi or Tupian languages, spoken in South America ** Tupi language, an extinct Tupian language spoken by the Tupi people * Tupi oil field off the coast of Brazil * Tupi Paulista, a Brazilian municipalit ...

name. or ''tatajuba''; in

Roraima Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...

it is called ''tatajuba''.

Distribution

''Bagassa guianensis'' is found in

and the northern

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

(in the states of

Amapá Amapá () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is in the northern region of Brazil. It is the second least populous state and the eighteenth largest by area. Located in the far northern part of the country, Amapá is bordered clockwise by Fr ...

, Pará, Maranhão and Roraima) with an apparently disjunct population in the southwestern states of

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighboring ...

and

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). 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, ...

Ecology

''Bagassa guianensis'' is a "long-lived pioneer" that frequently established in

second growth The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

forests and tree-fall gaps. Although the structure of ''B. guianensis'' flowers suggests bat-pollination, Berg suggested that they might be

wind-pollinated Anemophily or wind pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen is distributed by wind. Almost all gymnosperms are anemophilous, as are many plants in the order Poales, including grasses, sedges, and rushes. Other common anemophilous plan ...

since the trees were "tall and deciduous". Direct observation suggests that pollination is primarily by

thrips Thrips ( order Thysanoptera) are minute (mostly long or less), slender insects with fringed wings and unique asymmetrical mouthparts. Different thrips species feed mostly on plants by puncturing and sucking up the contents, although a few are ...

, 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 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.

Uses

''Bagassa guianensis'' is a valuable timber species and is intensively exploited. It is used for construction, furniture, and boat-building.''Bagassa guianensis
. Technology Transfer fact sheet. Center for Wood Anatomy Research. USDA Forest Service The infructescences are edible.

References

Moraceae Monotypic Rosales genera Trees of Brazil Trees of French Guiana Trees of Guyana Trees of Suriname Moraceae genera Taxa named by Jean Baptiste Christian Fusée-Aublet Dioecious plants {{Moraceae genera