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Family:

Urticaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Primary Citation:

Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. Ser. 3, 8: 79. 1847

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Description:

Species Description: Trees of secondary growth, very common in gaps and clearings. Stipules caducous, leave conspicuous scars. Leaves simple, alternate, usually palmately dissected. Infructescences digitate, thick, finger-like spikes arising from uppermost leaf axils, with numerous fruits; peduncle long (10-29 cm) and flexible in C. obtusa and C. palmata, or short and thick in C. sciadophylla. Fruits surrounded by enlarged perianths, achenes, obovoid, oblong, ellipsoid, lanceolate-ellipsoid, 2-3 x 0.8-1.3 mm, light yellow, brown or dark brown, glossy, the surface undulate-rugose or tuberculate; mucilage exudes from exocarp after placed of fruits in water. Pericarp thick, 150-200 µm, with 5-14 layers, differentiated into exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, the exocarp a single layer of mucilaginous and non-mucilaginous cells, the mesocarp multilayered, with tanniniferous cells, sclereids, and crystal-bearing cells, the endocarp a single layer of macrosclereids. Seeds oblong-ovoid or obovoid, 1.6-1.9 x 0.5-1.2 mm, light yellow or light brown, glossy, the surface indistinctly striate-reticulate. Seed coat derived from 2 integuments, in mature seed reduced to two-layered membrane 8-11 µm thick. Endosperm present in mature seeds, of 2-6 layers. Embryo linear, straight, with large plano-convex cotyledons.

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Cecropia obtusa Trécul: [Article] Berg, Cornelius C. & Franco Rosselli, Pilar. 2005. Cecropia. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 94: 1--230.