MARLIERA OBSCURA

FAMILY OF MYRTACEAE

 

 

NOMENCLATUR AND IMPORTANCE: GUAPICIQUÍ - comes from the Tupi-Guarani and means "fruit that itchy throat or neck." Also known as Guaporanguinha or False Guaporanga.

Origin: Occurs unobtrusively in the Atlantic coastal forest, or at the mouths of some rivers in Minas Gerais, down to Santa Catarina, where the limit of the range is in southern Brazil. More information in Portuguese at the link:

http://floradobrasil.jbrj.gov.br/2012/index?mode=sv&group=Root_.Angiospermas_&family=Root_.Angiospermas_.Myrtaceae_&genus=Marlierea&species=&author=&common=&occurs=1&region=&state=&phyto=&endemic=&origin=&vegetation=&last_level=subspecies&listopt=1

 

NOTICES:  The botanical name for this species OBSCURA shows that it is difficult to identify them and they can easily be confused with the real Guaporanga (Marliera tomentosa).

  

Features: One 5 to 10 m tall tree with a cylindrical, dense crown with hairy young branches of a yellowish-brown color. The trunk has a smooth bark and has a diameter of 20 to 40 cm in the forest. The leaves are opposite, papyrus-like, dark green on top and metallic at the underside, including the stem is 7 to 11 mm long. The leaf blade is oblong lanceolate, they measure 9-15 cm long and 2.5 to 5 cm wide, cuneate at the base and pointed the tip. The flowers are found in the panicles at the ends of new shoots in the spring that are hairy. The flowers are bare, 1 to 1.5 cm measured when they are open and have rounded white petals down. The fruits are rounded and elongated and are 1.2 to 1.8 cm long and 1 cm wide, with one or at most two oblong seeds which are whitish.

Culture tips: The plant is easy to grow and very adaptable, although little known. They can be grown in Brazil at every altitude. It is resistant to low temperatures to -3°C, tolerate droughts of up to 5 months. They prefer different types of soil, sand, peat and even more, which are moist and deep, rich in organic matter and neutral (with a pH between 5.0 and 6.2). At least two are required for a plant for better production. It begins 3 to 5 years after planting to bear fruit, depending on the climate and cultivation.

 

Propagation: The seeds are recalcitrant (lose their ability to germinate after 20 days, if they are dry). They are cylindrical and slightly smaller than a bean, sprout after 30 to 45 days in a substrate of 40% soil, 20% sand and 40% organic material. The seeds can be sown in pots or in flower beds. If they are 10 cm high, they can be separated in pots and placed on sites with 50% shading. The seedlings reach 30 cm by 8 to 9 months. The best time to plant is during the months of September to November.

 

Planting: They can be planted in full sun and well distributed in the forests between the big trees. The distance between the plants should be 5 x 5 m. It is good to dig planting holes in the size of 50 cm in the three dimensions and they let them 2 months before planting to work with the filling of 30 cm  of 1 kg of lime, 1 kg of ash and about 6 shouvels of organic substances. The best planting time is from September to November. After planting water during the first 3 months, thereafter only when there is shortage of water at the time of flowering.

 

Culture: Only forming cut of the crown and removing the shoots that grow at the base of the trunk or remove the growing down or crossing shoots in the crown. Always mulch with dry grass or leaves. Fertilize with organic compost, can be 5 shovels of chicken manure throughly mixed with 50 g of NPK 10-10-10. Double the amount until the third year, then fertilize with simple quanity.

 

Use: Bears fruit in the months from October to December. The fruit can be eaten in nature, the little hairs on the shell have to be rubbed off, because they cause a scratchy throat. The flowers attract bees and the tree can be successfully used as an ornamental tree in urban systems and for reforestation, to feed the bird life in general.

 

 

Back to the seedlist (English) or back to Myrtaceae (Portuguese)