Ptychopetalum olacoides Benth.

  • Authority

    Sleumer, Hermann O. 1984. Olacaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 38: 1-159. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Olacaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Ptychopetalum olacoides Benth.

  • Type

    Type. French Guiana, Cayenne, fl, Martius s.n. (holotype, K).

  • Description

    Species Description - Tree 5-15(rarely -20) m high; trunk grooved lengthwise, to 25 cm diam. Branchlets terete, slightly striately winged lengthwise, glabrous. Leaves lanceolate-oblong, apex rather gradually attenuate or subacuminate for 1-1.5 cm, tip acute, base broadly attenuate to acute, subcoriaceous, glabrous, gray- or glaucous- to blue-green beneath when fresh, dry specimens dark greenish-blackish above, brown beneath, dull on both surfaces, edge slightly revolute, more or less densely tuberculate mainly beneath in fully mature leaves, (6-)9-11 (-13) x (2-)2.5-3(-4) cm, lateral nerves 6-8(-10, -12) pairs, straight from the midrib, curved and anastomosing before the margin, obscurely raised beneath; petiole deeply grooved above, not thickened, (2-)3-4(-6) mm. Racemes 1-2(-3) per axil, cyme-like, 5- 8-flowered, glabrous, (1.5-)2(-3) cm long; pedicels subtended by a broadly ovate to linear, finally reflexed and caducous bracteole, 2-3(-5) mm long. Calyx small, hardly 1 mm, 5-dentate in the dolichostylous, almost obsolete in the brachystylous form. Petals linear-oblong, white, 1-1.3 cm x ca. 2 mm, glabrous outside, white-hairy inside, their upper edge membranaceous, involute, without an appendix. Stamens 10 or not rarely 7 or 8 by abortion; anthers oblong. Ovary oblong-conoid, the style included ca. 8 mm long in the dolichostylous, and ca. 5 mm long in the brachystylous form. Drupe oblongoid-ellipsoid, green initially, changing to pinkish and finally to purplish-blackish, pruinose, 1.5-1.8 x 1.3-1.6 cm; pericarp thin; endocarp crustaceous, ca. 0.5 mm.

  • Discussion

    Wood hard, heavy, yellowish. The roots of the young plant bear haustoria and deliver most of the drug with alleged aphrodisiac properties exported from Manaus and Belem under the name ‘muira puama’; for details see the chapter on Phytochemistry.

  • Common Names

    Bois de fer, bois bande

  • Distribution

    Guianas and Amazonian Brazil; understory in rain forest and in high savanna forest, on non-inundated soil at low alt.

    Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America|