Aniba

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Magnoliids
Ordo: Laurales

Familia: Lauraceae
Tribus: Cinnamomeae
Genus: Aniba
Species: A. affinis – A. bracteata – A. burchellii – A. canellila – A. cinnamomiflora – A. citrifolia – A. coto – A. cujumary – A. cylindriflora – A. desertorum – A. excelsa – A. ferrea – A. ferruginea – A. firmula – A. guianensis – A. heringeri – A. heterotepala – A. hostmanniana – A. hypoglauca – A. intermedia – A. jenmanii – A. kappleri – A. lancifolia – A. lehmannii – A. megaphylla – A. muca – A. novogranatensis – A. panurensis – A. parviflora – A. pedicellata – A. percoriacea – A. permollis – A. perutilis – A. pilosa – A. puchury-minor – A. ramageana – A. riparia – A. robusta – A. rosaeodora – A. santalodora – A. sulcata – A. taubertiana – A. terminalis – A. vaupesiana – A. venezuelana – A. viridis – A. vulcanicola – A. williamsii
Name

Aniba Aubl. Hist. Pl. Guiane 1: 327, t. 126. (1775)

Type species: Aniba guianensis Aubl. Hist. Pl. Guiane 1: 327, t. 126. (1775)

References

Aublet, J.B.C.F. 1775. Histoire des Plantes de la Guiane Françoise 1: 327, t. 126.
International Plant Names Index. 2016. Aniba. Published online. Accessed: Sept. 29 2016.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2016. Aniba in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2016 Sept. 29. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2016. Aniba. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2016 Sept. 29.

Aniba is an American neotropical flowering plant genus in the family Lauraceae. They are present in low and mountain cloud forest in Caribbean islands, Central America, and northern to central South America.

Description

They are shrubs or trees up to 25 m high, hermaphrodites. The leaves are alternate, entire, and elliptical or narrowly elliptical. The inflorescences are paniculate and axillary, the flowers are arranged in cymes essentially, and those strictly opposite side are small. The fruit is a berry-like drupe dispersed mostly by birds. Fruits are 3 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, with deep domes, and warty. Many species have a valuable timber in yellow wood, others have the wood and bark pleasantly scented. The oils extracted from certain species are used as ingredients in the manufacture of perfumes.
Ecology

Aniba is a genus of great ecological importance. It currently includes 41 species, classified into six different subgroups, in which the woody structures are almost undifferentiated; the differences are ecological adaptations to different environments over a relatively dry-wet climate. Species in less humid environments are smaller or less robust, with less abundant and thinner foliage and have oleifera cells that give trees a more fragrant aroma.

Found throughout the Guyanas and the Amazon region, and also in the Pacific coastal areas of Colombia, they grow mostly in tropical forests and Andean cloud forest, but have also been found in stubbles and pastures. Distribution of Aniba extends from the islands of the Antilles in the Caribbean to Central America, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Guyanas, Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru in the coastal ranges and interior in wet areas, the Andes, and to dry regions of central and southern Brazil.

They do not form large stands, but rather small groups of trees with densities up to one individual per five hectares. Due to the low density, exploitation of the natural populations is to the detriment of the rainforest. Overexploitation of the easily accessible trees of the rainforest has been reducing exports since the mid-1990s. Due to the distribution in inaccessible rainforest regions and its low density, it is hard to survey population trends in figures, but overexploitation is evident. [1]

Fourteen of the most known trees are used by the timber industry. In general, the wood from Aniba species has a high commercial value. The woods are typically yellowish with a greenish hue when fresh, becoming brown or olive on exposure to air. Narrow sapwood is light yellowish. Luster is medium to high; grain is straight to interlocked; texture is fine to medium; they have a spicy odor, and the taste may be distinctive.[2] [3]

Selected species

Aniba anisosepala Sandwith
Aniba canelilla Mez
Aniba duckei, Kosterm. 1938
Aniba ferrea, Kubitzki 1982
Aniba ferruginea, Kubitzki 1982
Aniba firmula, (Nees & Mart.) Mez, 1889
Aniba flexuosa, A.C.Sm., 1935
Aniba foeniculacea, Mez, 1906
Aniba fragrans Ducke 1925
Aniba heringeri Vattimo-Gil
Aniba intermedia, (Meisn.) Mez 1889
Aniba megaphylla, Mez
Aniba novo-granatensis, Kubitzki 1982
Aniba parviflora, (Meisn.) Mez 1889
Aniba pedicellata, Kosterm. 1938
Aniba percoriacea, C.K.Allen 1964
Aniba perutilis, Hemsl. 1894
Aniba pilosa, van der Werff [nl] 1994
Aniba robusta, (Klotzsch & P.Karst.) Mez 1889
Aniba rosaeodora, Ducke 1930
Aniba santalodora, Ducke 1950
Aniba sulcata Benoist 1929
Aniba vaupesiana, Kubitzki 1982
Aniba venezuelana, Mez 1889
Aniba vulcanicola, van der Werff 1994
Aniba williamsii Brooks 1931

References

http://www.dcsp.org/COP15-e.html Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
http://www.saber.ula.ve/bitstream/123456789/24181/1/articulo44_1_4.pdf

Plantamed Spp.

Spanish: Flora de Nicaragua
"USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. GRIN". National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.