Brazilian Angelim Vermelho Achieves Tallest Amazonian Tree Status

Summary: A Brazilian angelim vermelho assumed taller tallest Amazonian tree honor after Aug. 14-24, 2019 expedition accuracy checks added 21.32 feet (6.5 meters).

AFP graphic includes handout photo, released by SETEC (Science and Technology Secretary of Amapa State), showing tallest Amazon tree, a Brazilian angelim vermelho (Dinizia excelsa) tree found Aug. 21, 2019, in northeastern Brazil; AFP photo/Rafael Aleixo: AFP news agency @AFP, via Twitter Sep. 5, 2019

A Brazilian angelim vermelho achieved accuracy-checked, 21.32-foot (6.5-meter) higher, 290.35-foot (88.5-meter) base-tiptop height after 31-member expeditioning, Aug. 14-24, 2019, by Eric Bastos Gorgens, Federal University of the Jequitinhonha and Mucini Valleys professor.

Black, elliptic or oblong, four-month viable, hard-coated seeds brandish the first stages in 100 to 400 or perhaps 600-plus-year life cycles of Brazilian angelim vermelho trees. The 0.39 to 0.55-inch- (10 to 14-millimeter-) long, 0.24 to 0.28-inch- (6 to 7-millimeter-) wide seeds contain compressed sides, minute fractures, pebble-like textures and semi-narrower middles. They develop sustainable sprouts within 20 to 40 days in 30-plus percent of home-gardened plantings if scarified, warm-water soaked for 12 hours 12 hours before sowing.

Each 8.07 to 13.78-inch- (20.5 to 35-centimeter-) long, 1.77 to 3.35-inch- (4.5 to 8.5-centimeter-) wide fruit emerges leathery, non-splitting, seven to 12-seeded, smooth-surfaced and wine-red fresh.

Brazilian angelim vermelho 0.59 to 0.79-inch- (1.5 to 2-centimeter-) high stipes (from Latin stīpes, "post") fasten laterally compressed, longitudinally wrinkled fruits with 0.39-inch- (1-centimeter-) wide wings.

Central 3.15 to 6.29-inch (8 to 16-centimeter) spines guard 0.12 to 0.79-inch (3 to 20-millimeter) stems with 0.019 to 0.039-inch (0.5 to 1-millimeter) stalked calyxes ("husks"). The tallest Amazonian tree's 0.039 to 0.049-inch (1 to 1.25-millimeter) calyxes hold 0.12 to 0.16-inch (3 to 4-millimeter) by 0.079 to 0.088-inch (2 to 2.25-millimeter) petals. They hermaphroditically include 10 white stamens ("threads") with 0.024 to 0.028-inch- (0.6 to 0.7-millimeter-) long anthers ("blooming") and 0.39 to 0.047-inch- (10 to 12-millimeter-) long filaments.

Brazilian angelim vermelho juggles fall-peaked, winter-peaked, year-round fruits from staminal pollen journeying through red, smooth gynecial (from Greek γυναικεῖον, "women's quarters") stigmas, funnel-shaped styles and ovaries.

Green-white-yellow 0.39 to 0.79-inch (1 to 2-centimeter) clusters of 0.16 to 0.19-inch (4 to 5-millimeter) flowers keep branches, fruiting February through July, fragrant April through September.

Seven to 14-clustered 2.56 to 4.92-inch (6.5 to 12.5-centimeter) leaves lodge 1.58 to 11.02-inch (4 to 28-centimeter) spines and 0.79 to 2.95-inch (2 to 7.5-centimeter) stems. Seven to 13 alternate-positioned 0.47 to 0.98-inch (12 to 25-millimeter) by 0.19 to 0.43-inch (5 to 11-millimeter) leaflets manifest 0.12 to 0.24-inch (3 to 6-millimeter) stipules. Semi-deciduous foliage nestled near shredding, white bark atop borer and termite-resistant brown-red heartwood and 1.97 to 3.94-inch- (5 to 10-centimeter-) wide sapwood nurtures open, spreading canopies.

Brazilian angelim vermelho trees offer 49.21 to 73.82-foot- (15 to 22.5-meter-) tall trunks with 0.76 to 6.56-foot (23-centimeter to 2-meter) breast-high, maximally 9.84-foot (3-meter) soil-level diameters.

Clay-tolerant 13.12 to 16.4-foot- (4 to 5-meter-) tall buttress roots perform no bean, legume, pea family-prompted fixation of molecular nitrogen into soil food web-friendly nitrogenous compounds.

Coarse, durable, interlocking or straight-grained textures qualify Brazilian angelim vermelho wood for beam, bridge, floorboard, lath, parquet, pole, post, rafter, rail-tie, stake, strut and window-frame production. Brazilian angelim vermelho trees require non-inundated, tropical dry or moist, upland evergreen or mixed forests from Guyana southward into Amapá and Pará, Brazilian Amazon Basin states. Storm, wildfire, wind-sheltered 164.04 to 1,607.61-foot (50 to 490-meter) altitudes above sea level, separated from urban industrialization, suggest International Union for Conservation of Nature's least-concerned status.

Five hundred small trees, or 2.47 rainforested acres (1 hectare), trap the 44.09-ton (40-tonne) annual carbon dioxide takeaways of one Brazilian angelim vermelho, tallest Amazonian tree.

photo of "The Amazon's new record-breaking tree" provided by Amazon laser scan expedition member and University of Cambridge postdoctoral researcher Tobias Jackson: Arboricultural Association @ArbAssociation, via Twitter Oct. 18, 2019

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

AFP graphic includes handout photo, released by SETEC (Science and Technology Secretary of Amapa State), showing tallest Amazon tree, a Brazilian angelim vermelho (Dinizia excelsa) tree found Aug. 21, 2019, in northeastern Brazil; AFP photo/Rafael Aleixo: AFP news agency @AFP, via Twitter Sep. 5, 2019, @ https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1169768181516292097

photo of "The Amazon's new record-breaking tree" provided by Amazon laser scan expedition member and University of Cambridge postdoctoral researcher Tobias Jackson: Arboricultural Association @ArbAssociation, via Twitter Oct. 18, 2019, @ https://twitter.com/ArbAssociation/status/1185214147220443136

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