Monographs Details:
Authority:
Morley, Thomas. 1976. Melastomataceae tribe Memecyleae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 15: 1-295. (Published by NYBG Press)
Morley, Thomas. 1976. Melastomataceae tribe Memecyleae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 15: 1-295. (Published by NYBG Press)
Family:
Melastomataceae
Melastomataceae
Description:
Description - Glabrous shrub or small tree, sometimes to ca 12 m high; young first-year twigs narrowly but prominently winged on each of the 4 angles; branches light gray; bark rough, grayish; wood very hard. Petioles 0.5-2.0(-3.0) mm long; blades thick, shining when fresh, bluish-green, 1.0-3.4(-4.1) cm long, 0.5-1.9(-2.4) cm wide, ovate to narrowly or broadly elliptic or almost round to obovate, the margin often somewhat revolute, the apex narrowly to broadly acute (the acuteness sometimes accentuated by inrolled margins on both sides) to rounded or emarginate, often mucronulate, the base narrowly to broadly acute, often cuneate; midrib plane to slightly elevated above, rounded to flat below, rarely (Ekman HI5047) somewhat rectangular in the middle, not winged; lateral nerves not visible, or very indistinct, above and below, fresh and dry; upper surfaces of dry leaves smooth to minutely rugulose or less often punctulate. Midrib xylem tubular; stomatal crypts present or absent, usually Type III but when very small Type II, when regularly present averaging in a leaf ca 3062 µ in diam, 19-26 µ high, 40-115 per sq mm (extremes 18-65(-105) µ diam, 17-28 µ high, 10150 per sq mm); upper epidermis predominantly one cell thick, sometimes up to 6% of the cells doubled in the same leaf, mucilaginous walls absent (a few doubtful instances seen in Abbott 2233); hypodermis present; free stone cells present only in base of petiole; terminal sclereids stellate, the central bodies 1-4 times as long as wide, arms common, usually prominent, their length up to twice the body thickness, 5-40% of the sclereids having the body very short and with a stellate appearance, columnar forms common in some collections, not others. Inflorescences in the leaf axils or at leafless nodes of twigs up to 2.0 mm thick, 1 per side, each 1-3-flowered, 1.0-8.0 mm long to base of farthest pedicel measured along the axes and with 1-3 internodes in that length; bracts 0.6-1.3 mm long, ovate to ovate-triangular, acute, deciduous early or late, often present with the mature fruit. True pedicels 1.5-5.5 mm long; calyx including inferior ovary 4.05.3 mm long, campanulate; ratio of length of calyx to width of calyx lobe ca 3.15; free hypanthium ca 1.6-2.0 mm long; calyx lobes before anthesis 0.7-1.3 long, 0.9-1.6 mm wide, 1.2-1.9 mm long from the stamen attachment, half-elliptic to rounded-triangular, acute at the apex, the margins minutely fringed with short hairs, fusion distance of adjacent lobes above the stamen attachment 0.4-0.7 mm, splitting and stretching distance at anthesis 0.2-1.1 mm. Petals white to pink, 4.8-6.7 mm long, 2.2-4.0 mm wide, ovate to ovate-oblong, acuminate at apex, sessile or narrowed to a claw 0.2-0.7 mm long. Antesepalous filaments 3.5-5.0 mm long, antepetalous ones 5.5-8.0 mm long; anthers 1.6-2.6 mm long; sporangia 1.6-2.1 mm long, dehiscing by apical pores; gland 0.3-0.9 mm long, 1.1-1.8 mm from apex of anther when measured from center of gland; cauda 0.4-0.8 mm long. Ovary 2-or 3-locular; ovules axile-basal, produced only outwardly from each placenta, 7-11 in all; style 10.0-13.0 mm long. Fruits orange, orange-red, or yellowish-red, crowned with the hypanthium and sometimes some calyx lobes, 1-3-seeded, subglobose when 1-seeded, then 5.0-7.5 mm in diameter when dry, estimated 6.0-9.0 mm when fresh, the calyx often located through differential development at less than 180° from the pedicel, the fruit when 2-3-seeded shallowly lobed according to the number of seeds, up to 9.0 mm thick when dry, estimated to 12.0 mm when fresh. Seeds dark olive-brown, smooth, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, ca 4.7 mm long, 4.0 mm in diam, flattened on the contact faces if seeds more than 1, with a roundish basal hilum ca 1.3 mm in diam.
Description - Glabrous shrub or small tree, sometimes to ca 12 m high; young first-year twigs narrowly but prominently winged on each of the 4 angles; branches light gray; bark rough, grayish; wood very hard. Petioles 0.5-2.0(-3.0) mm long; blades thick, shining when fresh, bluish-green, 1.0-3.4(-4.1) cm long, 0.5-1.9(-2.4) cm wide, ovate to narrowly or broadly elliptic or almost round to obovate, the margin often somewhat revolute, the apex narrowly to broadly acute (the acuteness sometimes accentuated by inrolled margins on both sides) to rounded or emarginate, often mucronulate, the base narrowly to broadly acute, often cuneate; midrib plane to slightly elevated above, rounded to flat below, rarely (Ekman HI5047) somewhat rectangular in the middle, not winged; lateral nerves not visible, or very indistinct, above and below, fresh and dry; upper surfaces of dry leaves smooth to minutely rugulose or less often punctulate. Midrib xylem tubular; stomatal crypts present or absent, usually Type III but when very small Type II, when regularly present averaging in a leaf ca 3062 µ in diam, 19-26 µ high, 40-115 per sq mm (extremes 18-65(-105) µ diam, 17-28 µ high, 10150 per sq mm); upper epidermis predominantly one cell thick, sometimes up to 6% of the cells doubled in the same leaf, mucilaginous walls absent (a few doubtful instances seen in Abbott 2233); hypodermis present; free stone cells present only in base of petiole; terminal sclereids stellate, the central bodies 1-4 times as long as wide, arms common, usually prominent, their length up to twice the body thickness, 5-40% of the sclereids having the body very short and with a stellate appearance, columnar forms common in some collections, not others. Inflorescences in the leaf axils or at leafless nodes of twigs up to 2.0 mm thick, 1 per side, each 1-3-flowered, 1.0-8.0 mm long to base of farthest pedicel measured along the axes and with 1-3 internodes in that length; bracts 0.6-1.3 mm long, ovate to ovate-triangular, acute, deciduous early or late, often present with the mature fruit. True pedicels 1.5-5.5 mm long; calyx including inferior ovary 4.05.3 mm long, campanulate; ratio of length of calyx to width of calyx lobe ca 3.15; free hypanthium ca 1.6-2.0 mm long; calyx lobes before anthesis 0.7-1.3 long, 0.9-1.6 mm wide, 1.2-1.9 mm long from the stamen attachment, half-elliptic to rounded-triangular, acute at the apex, the margins minutely fringed with short hairs, fusion distance of adjacent lobes above the stamen attachment 0.4-0.7 mm, splitting and stretching distance at anthesis 0.2-1.1 mm. Petals white to pink, 4.8-6.7 mm long, 2.2-4.0 mm wide, ovate to ovate-oblong, acuminate at apex, sessile or narrowed to a claw 0.2-0.7 mm long. Antesepalous filaments 3.5-5.0 mm long, antepetalous ones 5.5-8.0 mm long; anthers 1.6-2.6 mm long; sporangia 1.6-2.1 mm long, dehiscing by apical pores; gland 0.3-0.9 mm long, 1.1-1.8 mm from apex of anther when measured from center of gland; cauda 0.4-0.8 mm long. Ovary 2-or 3-locular; ovules axile-basal, produced only outwardly from each placenta, 7-11 in all; style 10.0-13.0 mm long. Fruits orange, orange-red, or yellowish-red, crowned with the hypanthium and sometimes some calyx lobes, 1-3-seeded, subglobose when 1-seeded, then 5.0-7.5 mm in diameter when dry, estimated 6.0-9.0 mm when fresh, the calyx often located through differential development at less than 180° from the pedicel, the fruit when 2-3-seeded shallowly lobed according to the number of seeds, up to 9.0 mm thick when dry, estimated to 12.0 mm when fresh. Seeds dark olive-brown, smooth, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, ca 4.7 mm long, 4.0 mm in diam, flattened on the contact faces if seeds more than 1, with a roundish basal hilum ca 1.3 mm in diam.
Distribution:
Dominican Republic South America| Haiti South America| Puerto Rico South America|
Dominican Republic South America| Haiti South America| Puerto Rico South America|