Mouriri pachyphylla Burret
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Authority
Morley, Thomas. 1976. Melastomataceae tribe Memecyleae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 15: 1-295. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Melastomataceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. R. B. Hinds sn (holotype, K). Colombia, Island of Gorgona. In fruit, 1841.
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Synonyms
Campomanesia crassifolia Benth., Aulacocarpus crassifolius (Benth.) O.Berg
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Description
Description - Tree glabrous except for the inflorescence; young twigs terete; trunk cylindric, to 15 cm diam; bark gray-brown, rugulose and granular; wood reddish-ochre. Petioles 4.5-11.0 mm long, sharply distinguished from the blade; blades 11.0-18.0 cm long, 4.4-9.0 cm wide, ovate-elliptic to ovate, acuminate at the apex or rather abruptly so, rounded to broadly acute at base; midrib slightly grooved above for its whole length, rounded below near base, becoming slightly 2-angled 1/4-1/3 of the way to the tip; lateral nerves obscurely visible to invisible above and below when dry. Midrib xylem tubular; stomatal crypts none; upper epidermis mostly one cell thick, occasionally two cells thick in scattered places in the same leaf, mucilaginous walls absent; hypodermis none; terminal sclereids mostly columnar, sometimes slanting, branching at both ends, occasionally a central body present, the latter usually with a few sharp arms. Inflorescences at leafless nodes of twigs 2.0-8.0 mm thick, often in the leaf zone but only observed at nodes where leaves have dropped, 1 to several per side, each apparently 1-flowered, 2.0-6.0 mm long to base of farthest pedicel and with 1 or 2 internodes in that distance; bracts unknown, deciduous in fruit. True pedicels 6.0-12.0 mm long in fruit, sparsely puberulent. Flower unknown. Calyx lobes 5, present on the fruit, the part free before anthesis ca 0.3-0.4 mm long, 0.8-1.2 mm wide, broadly triangular, the lobes lengthened at anthesis by a splitting of the fused limb between them for a distance of ca 2.0-2.6 mm, the resultant lobes ca 2.0-2.4 mm long, 3.0-3.4 mm wide, the length from center of stamen attachment ca 2.1-3.0 mm; free hypanthium ca 4.5-4.8 mm long judging by the depth of the pit in the fruit. Fruits orange, subglobose when 1-seeded, broader and prominently lobed according to the number of seeds when seeds are more than 1, crowned with the remains of the calyx, 16.0-20.0 mm high excluding calyx, 15.0-34.0 mm wide when dry, estimated ca 21-26 mm high and 20-44 mm wide when fresh, perhaps more, the flesh mucilaginous, transparent, sweet (with a flavor reminiscent of the medlar) with a rather bitter aftertaste (Cuatrecasas 16158); calyx on 1-seeded fruits often as little as 45° from the pedicel through differential development rather than the usual 180°. Seeds l-4(-5), covered with a rough adherent layer of the inner pericarp, dark brown and shiny after its removal, broadly ellipsoid, ca 9.8-13.2 mm long, 9.5-10.2 mm wide, 8.3-8.7 mm thick, with an irregularly circular basal hilum ca 4.5-5.0 mm in diam.
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Discussion
The distinctive features of this species as now known are its large relatively broad leaves with the apex often only acuminate, not abruptly so, its long petioles, its lack of stomatal crypts, its lack of mucilaginous walls in the epidermal cells, and its large prominently lobed fruits.
Although the relations of this plant cannot be certainly known without seeing the flowers, it is probable that it falls in the section Olisbea because of the following characters, which in combination would be out of place elsewhere: (1) the large leaves, lacking stomatal crypts, and with columnar terminal sclereids; and (2) the calyx limb, with its short free lobes and relatively long fused part. -
Distribution
The south Pacific coast of Colombia in Valle, and on the island of Gorgona. Forests, 5-50 m elevation.
Valle Colombia South America|