Virola sebifera is a canopy tree found in primary and secondary wet forest that belongs to the Myristicaceae family. It grows from Nicaragua to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil (Howe, 1981).It flowers annually in the rainy season and produces small, inconspicuous, yellow flowers (Lenza and Oliveira, 2006). Virola sebifera is dioecious and produces the same sex of flowers every year (Lenza and Oliveira, 2006). The flowers are visited by various small insects and though the specific pollinators are not known, the flower has many characteristics of a beetle pollination syndrome (Lenza and Oliveira, 2006). The flower produces a dehiscent bivalve capsule that dehisces to expose a seed with a bright red aril (Hartshorn, 1983). This aril is highly nutritious and preferred by some species of medium and large frugivorous birds (Howe, 1981). These birds disperse the seeds; agoutis are known to eat and cache the seeds but are not known to disperse them (Howe, 1981). Once a seed germinates, the sapling is shade tolerant but grows quickly once canopy opens (Hartshorn, 1983).
A new world species that grows from Nicaragua to Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil (Howe, 1981) in wet, mesophytic forests (Lenza and Oliveira, 2006)
Tropical moist, tropical wet, premontane wet, and premontane rain life zones (based on the Holdridge Life Zone classification system); found in primary and secondary forest (Howe, 1981)
Physical Description
Virola sebifera is an evergreen canopy tree and grows up to 40m tall (Hartshorn, 1983). The trunk is straight and monopodial. Branches are horizontally whorled (90 degrees angles). From below they look like the spokes of a wagon wheel. Leaves are simple, alternate, and entire (no notches or lobes). They have parallel venation (about 1 cm space in between) from midrib vein. Leaves are pubescent (covered with tiny hairs) with a color described as "rust golden." Virola sebifera has a red sap that is common in the Myristicaceae family. The flowers are small, clumped, and dull yellow (Hartshorn, 1983).
Flowers
Virola sebifera is dioecious, meaning that a tree will have only male or only female flowers. This species has been seen to produce the same sex of flowers every year (Lenza and Oliveira, 2006). Virola sebifera flowers annually during the rainy season. Male flowers open before female flowers. An individual flower will last about 7 days, a relatively long floral lifespan. Flowers usually open at night and trees have been observed to create flowers for 11-13 weeks (Lenza and Oliveira, 2006).
Besides hosting different reproductive parts, male and female flowers are nearly identical.The flowers are small (3mm males, 4mm females), inconspicuous, and yellow and grow in paniculate inflorescences (branched groupings of flowers) (Lenza and Oliveira, 2006). Merged sepals form a tube, with the reproductive parts inside. Both sexes exude a strong odor, but neither produces nectar. The strong odor is a common trait of the Myristicacae family (Lenza and Oliveira, 2006).
Fruit
The fruit is a dehiscent capsule that splits in two to expose a single seed covered in bright red aril (Hartshorn, 1983). The aril has been described as "netlike" and is less than 1mm thick (Howe, 1981). It is considered one of the most nutritious arils: 54% lipid, 7% protein, and 8% usable carbohydrate (Howe, 1981). The arillate seed weighs 0.3 grams (Howe and Smallwood, 1982) and trees produce on average 24 fruits in a day, although the range is varied (1-96) (Howe, 1981).
Only around 5-6% of pollinated flowers start to form fruits. However, fruits formed after natural pollination were found to mature 7.5 times as often as initial fruits formed without pollination (Lenza and Oliveira, 2006).
Resin or bark extract of Virola trees is used to make snuffs and decoctions in various indigenous groups in South America including the Yanomamö and the Omagua nations (Torres and Repke, 2006). Virola sebifera bark contains 5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) (Torres and Repke, 2006) which both belong to a group of naturally occurring psychoactive serotonin analogs (indolealkylamines) (Hong-Wu et al., 2010).
A pollen reward is present in male flowers, but not in females (Lenza and Oliveira, 2006). Male flowers open first which may help gain the pollinator's interest. It is believed that pollinators visit female flowers by mistake while looking for male flowers. Diptera, Thysanoptera,and Homoptera have been seen at flowers but the true pollinator is unclear. However, flowers have the exact traits of beetle pollination syndrome and the flower morphology requires a small pollinator to fit into the flower to access the pollen at the base. Virola sebifera can also fruit without pollination, but very few fruits mature from this process (Lenza and Oliveira, 2006).
Virola sebifera seeds are dispersed by seven species of medium and large frugivorous birds (Howe and Smallwood, 1982). The Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, Keel-billed Toucans, Masked Tityras are seen frequently at these trees on Barro Colorado Island and will chase other birds from V. sebifera trees (Howe, 1981). A bird plucks a seed off of the tree and swallows it whole. The aril is ground off of the seed in the bird's gizzard and the seed is regurgitated 10-30 minutes later, hopefully in a new location. About 85% of seeds were dispersed in this manner. The rest are eaten and regurgitated at the tree (5%) or dropped by birds before being eaten (3%), or spontaneously fell off of the tree (7%). Agoutis will eat and cache these seeds and are considered a seed predator, not a disperser (Howe, 1981).
A higher crop size does not necessarily influence dispersal success in V. sebifera. In fact, at highly productive trees toucans will regurgitate seeds at the tree in order to eat more, rather than carry the seed away (Howe and Smallwood, 1982).
Virola sebifera is a species of tree in the family Myristicaceae, from North and South America.[3]
V. sebifera is a tall, thin tree which grows 5–30 m (16–98 ft) tall.[1] The leaves are simple and grow up to 30 cm (12 in) long. The small flowers are single-sexed and are found in panicles. The fruit is reddish, oval-shaped, and about 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in) long and about 11 mm (0.43 in) in diameter.[1] The individual Virola trees, which include 40 to 60 species, are difficult to differentiate from one another.[4]
English: red ucuuba.[2]
Portuguese: Ucuúba-do-cerrado.[5]
The bark of the tree is rich in tannins[3] and also the hallucinogen[6] dimethyltryptamine (DMT), as well as 5-MeO-DMT. The ripe seeds contain fatty acid glycerides, especially laurodimyristin and trimyristin.[7] The bark contains 0.065% to 0.25% alkaloids, most of which are DMT and 5-MeO-DMT.[8] The "juice or gum" of the bark seems to have the highest concentrations of alkaloids (up to 8%).[8]
Seeds from V. sebifera are processed to obtain the fats, which are yellow and aromatic. They smell like nutmeg.[9] The fats also become rancid quickly. They are used industrially in the production of fats, candles, and soaps. This virola fat possesses properties similar to cocoa butter[7] and shea butter.
The wood of V. sebifera has a density around 0.37 g/cm3 (0.013 lb/cu in).[10]
The smoke of the inner bark of the tree is used by shamans of the indigenous people of Venezuela in cases of fever conditions, or cooked for driving out evil ghosts.[4]
Myristica sebifera (abbreviation: Myris) is derived from the fresh, red juice from the injured bark of the tree. It is especially used for such ailments as abscesses, phlegmon, paronychia, furuncle, anal fissures, infections of the parotid gland, bacterially infected tonsilitis, and others.[3][11][12]
Virola sebifera is a species of tree in the family Myristicaceae, from North and South America.
