Mouriri arborea Gardner
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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. G. Gardner 5704 (holotype, BM; isotypes, CGE, G, G-DC, GH, IAN-frag., K, NY, OXF, P, R. W). Brazil; Rio de Janeiro: Organ Mountains. A tree 40 feet high virgin forests, rare. In flower, March, 1841.
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Synonyms
Mouriri petroniana Cogn. & Saldanha
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Description
Description - Glabrous tree to 12 m or more high; young twigs terete to 4-angled. Petioles 3.0-8.0(-10.0) mm long; blades coriaceous, 7.0-18.5 cm long, 2.4-6.1 cm wide, elliptic to elliptic-ovate or these forms slightly oblong, abruptly short- to long-acuminate at the apex or less often acuminate, moderately acute with an included angle of 75-110° to broadly acute to rounded at base, sometimes shortly attenuate on the petiole; midrib plane or slightly grooved toward the base above, prominent and very narrowly 2-winged for its length below; lateral nerves invisible or very obscurely visible above when dry, invisible below. Midrib xylem tubular; stomatal crypts Type II, averaging in a leaf ca 39-70 µ in diam, 23-34 µ high, 25-75 per sq mm (extremes 25-85 µ diam, 21-36 µ high, 25-78 per sq mm); upper epidermis mostly one cell thick, very rarely two cells thick at scattered places in the leaf, many to all of the cells with mucilaginous walls; hypodermis none; free stone cells present only in petiole; terminal sclereids filiform, extending from epidermis to epidermis, turning abruptly and often brandling at the epidermis and running a short distance along it. Peduncles in the leaf axils and at upper leafless nodes of twigs up to 2.5 mm thick, 1-2 per side, each l-3-(-5)-flowered, 4.7-11.0(-18.0) mm long to base of farthest pedicel measured along the axes and with 2 internodes in that length; bracts early deciduous, not seen, triangular fide Gardner. True pedicels (3.5-)5.0-10.5 mm long; fully developed flower buds 10.0-17.0 mm long, 5.5-7.5 mm thick, obovoid, campanulate to cup-shaped at base, drawn into a medium to narrow cone at the apex, the calyx lobes fused for most of their length, the five fusion lines well-defined, the free ends of the lobes minute, triangular, obtuse or seldom acute, 0.4-0.8 mm long, 0.4-0.8 mm wide, the tip of the corolla sometimes visible and slightly protruding between the free tips, the calyx bursting at anthesis, splitting into 2 or 3 pieces along some of the fusion lines, the pieces breaking away on an irregular circumscissile line just above the petal attachment, often clinging during anthesis; calyx limb 6.4-9.5 mm long measured from the stamen attachment, the splitting distance at anthesis ca 6-9 mm; free hypanthium 2.0-2.6 mm long. Petals yellowish-white, ca 10-15 mm long, 7.6-11.0 mm wide, ovate to elliptic or broadly so or nearly round, abruptly acute to acuminate at the apex, narrowed to a very short claw at base, the margins somewhat crisped or undulate. Filaments ca 7-12 mm long; anthers yellowish, 3.8-4.5 mm long; sporangia 3.2-3.5 mm long, dehiscing by apical pores; gland 0.3-0.8 mm long, 2.7-3.3 mm from apex of anther when measured from center of gland; cauda 1.2-1.7 mm long. Ovary 4-6-locular; placentae basal in each locule, the ovules borne on all sides of a short basal column, 4-6 per placenta, ca 20-32 in all; style ca 16-23 mm long.. Fruit subglobose, dark brown or reddish brown when dry, ca 18-24 mm in diam when dry, estimated 21-30 mm when fresh, sometimes slightly higher than wide, sometimes the opposite, with a terminal rather irregular circular scar 5.0-8.0 mm in diam from the circumscissile calyx, the scar surrounding a depression 1.4-2.3 mm deep at the edge, the rim of the scar usually slightly raised; calyx scar often attached at an angle as little as 90° from the pedicel instead of being opposite the pedicel, due to off-center development of the seed within. Seeds apparently 1 per fruit in the broken material available, brown, smooth and slightly polished, irregularly globose, 12.8-14.0 mm long, 12.9-13.2 mm wide, 12.1-12.3 mm thick, with a half-round or heart-shaped to irregularly round probably basal hilum 6.7-7.0 mm long, 5.0-6.5 mm wide.
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Discussion
Mouriri arborea differs from Af. lunatanthera primarily in having longer petioles, rounded to acute leaf bases, relatively narrow flower buds, smaller free calyx lobes, a calyx which more fully encloses the petals and which fails to split along all five fusion lines and which is circumscissile, and longer filaments and anthers.
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Common Names
Cambuca bravo
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Distribution
Primary montane forests in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and apparently also in Minas Gerais and Goiás although lack of precise locality in the latter two states casts some doubt on the accuracy of this information. Gardner gives the elevation of the type locality as ca 3000 feet, or ca 910 m.
Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America| Goiás Brazil South America| Brazil South America|