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 - Shrub or tree to 15 m high with a trunk to 25 cm in diam, glabrous except for the inflorescence; young twigs terete or channelled; bark reddish or "dark"; wood dark brown, hard. Leaves reported favored by leaf-cutter ants; petioles 2.5-5.0 mm long; blades 7.2-17.0 cm long, 3.1-7.1 cm wide, ovate-elliptic to elliptic to oblong-elliptic, acute to acuminate or more often abruptly so at the apex, rounded to acute at base with an included angle as little as 65°, sometimes acute overall with an included angle of 90° but rounded at the petiole; a low included angle at the apex tends to be matched by one at the base; midrib flat or slightly elevated above, prominent below and sharply 2-angled or narrowly 2-winged; lateral nerves obscurely visible above when dry, visible below. Midrib xylem tubular; stomatal crypts Type I, averaging in a leaf ca 20-30 µ in diameter, 12-23 µ high, (0-)60-173 per sq mm (extremes 11-46 µ diam, 10-25 µ high, 0-180 per sq mm), often most frequent near the margin, rarely none ; upper epidermis mostly one cell thick, sometimes two in places in the same leaf, the single cells and the inner of the doubled cells usually with mucilaginous walls 1/4-1/2 the depth of the cell; hypodermis none but the upper palisade layer short, clear, its cells squarish as seen in section, therefore simulating a hypodermis but containing chloroplasts; free stone cells scattered along the midrib to its tip; terminal sclereids stellate, the central bodies mostly 1-3 times as long as wide, often branched themselves, with abundant irregular arms, sometimes with strong columnar arms. Inflorescences mostly at leafless nodes of twigs up to 6 mm thick, sometimes in the axils, 1-4 per side, each 1-3-flowered, 1.8-9.0 mm to base of farthest pedicel measured along the axes and with 1-3 internodes in that length; bracts 1.2-3.2 mm long, ovate-triangular, acute, deciduous by anthesis or sometimes persistent. Axes of inflorescence, pedicels, and calyx lobes minutely puberulent, the rest of the ovary and calyx glabrous or minutely puberulent. Flowers fragrant; true pedicels 1.2-4.2 mm long; calyx including inferior ovary 5.8-7.8 mm long, obconic, creamy white to yellow or salmon-buff, the lobes sometimes bordered with red-orange; free hypanthium 3.0-3.2 mm long; calyx lobes before anthesis triangular and sometimes broadly apiculate, 0.5-0.8 mm long, 1.2-2.2 mm wide, (1.8-)2.1-3.0 mm long when measured from stamen attachment, the calyx splitting between the lobes at anthesis a distance of 1.3-2.0 mm. Petals white to pinkish or yellow, sometimes white outside with lilac-rose midrib and pinkish-white inside, 5.0-7.8 mnrlong, 3.5-6.0 mm wide, trullate to rhombic or sometimes broadly ovate, acute or abruptly so at the apex, short-clawed at base. Filaments white, the antesepalous ones 6.0-10.0 mm long, antepetalous ones 9.5-12.0 mm long, or filaments to 15 mm long fide Gleason; anthers yellow, 3.0-4.0 mm long, sporangia 2.9-3.4 mm long, dehiscing by apical pores; gland 0.4-0.9 mm long, 2.1-2.7 mm from apex of anther when measured from center of gland; cauda 0.5-1.0 mm long. Ovary 3-5-locular; ovules axile-basal, produced only outwardly from each placenta, 11-19 in all; style white with purple apex in at least one instance, 13.0-18.0 mm long. Fruit yellow, crowned irregularly with the remains of the hypanthium or the calyx entirely deciduous, the fruit 1-5-seeded, subglobose when 1-seeded and often with the calyx located through differential development at less than 180° from the pedicel, depressed-globose or wider than thick when 2- or more-seeded, slightly lobed at least when dry according to the number of seeds within, typically broadest below the middle, 9.8-15.0 mm high, 10.7-17.7 mm thick when dry, estimated ca 12-19 mm high and 13-22 mm thick when fresh. Seeds brown, polished, 8.0-10.0 mm long and wide, when single irregularly subglobose with a flat irregularly and broadly elliptic basal hilum ca 6.5-7.5 mm long by 5.0-6.0 mm wide, when more than one the seeds flattened on the contact faces and shaped accordingly, the hilum then sometimes slanted upwards as much as 30° above horizontal (right angles to the pedicel) or turned sharply up at the inner angle.
Description - Shrub or tree to 15 m high with a trunk to 25 cm in diam, glabrous except for the inflorescence; young twigs terete or channelled; bark reddish or "dark"; wood dark brown, hard. Leaves reported favored by leaf-cutter ants; petioles 2.5-5.0 mm long; blades 7.2-17.0 cm long, 3.1-7.1 cm wide, ovate-elliptic to elliptic to oblong-elliptic, acute to acuminate or more often abruptly so at the apex, rounded to acute at base with an included angle as little as 65°, sometimes acute overall with an included angle of 90° but rounded at the petiole; a low included angle at the apex tends to be matched by one at the base; midrib flat or slightly elevated above, prominent below and sharply 2-angled or narrowly 2-winged; lateral nerves obscurely visible above when dry, visible below. Midrib xylem tubular; stomatal crypts Type I, averaging in a leaf ca 20-30 µ in diameter, 12-23 µ high, (0-)60-173 per sq mm (extremes 11-46 µ diam, 10-25 µ high, 0-180 per sq mm), often most frequent near the margin, rarely none ; upper epidermis mostly one cell thick, sometimes two in places in the same leaf, the single cells and the inner of the doubled cells usually with mucilaginous walls 1/4-1/2 the depth of the cell; hypodermis none but the upper palisade layer short, clear, its cells squarish as seen in section, therefore simulating a hypodermis but containing chloroplasts; free stone cells scattered along the midrib to its tip; terminal sclereids stellate, the central bodies mostly 1-3 times as long as wide, often branched themselves, with abundant irregular arms, sometimes with strong columnar arms. Inflorescences mostly at leafless nodes of twigs up to 6 mm thick, sometimes in the axils, 1-4 per side, each 1-3-flowered, 1.8-9.0 mm to base of farthest pedicel measured along the axes and with 1-3 internodes in that length; bracts 1.2-3.2 mm long, ovate-triangular, acute, deciduous by anthesis or sometimes persistent. Axes of inflorescence, pedicels, and calyx lobes minutely puberulent, the rest of the ovary and calyx glabrous or minutely puberulent. Flowers fragrant; true pedicels 1.2-4.2 mm long; calyx including inferior ovary 5.8-7.8 mm long, obconic, creamy white to yellow or salmon-buff, the lobes sometimes bordered with red-orange; free hypanthium 3.0-3.2 mm long; calyx lobes before anthesis triangular and sometimes broadly apiculate, 0.5-0.8 mm long, 1.2-2.2 mm wide, (1.8-)2.1-3.0 mm long when measured from stamen attachment, the calyx splitting between the lobes at anthesis a distance of 1.3-2.0 mm. Petals white to pinkish or yellow, sometimes white outside with lilac-rose midrib and pinkish-white inside, 5.0-7.8 mnrlong, 3.5-6.0 mm wide, trullate to rhombic or sometimes broadly ovate, acute or abruptly so at the apex, short-clawed at base. Filaments white, the antesepalous ones 6.0-10.0 mm long, antepetalous ones 9.5-12.0 mm long, or filaments to 15 mm long fide Gleason; anthers yellow, 3.0-4.0 mm long, sporangia 2.9-3.4 mm long, dehiscing by apical pores; gland 0.4-0.9 mm long, 2.1-2.7 mm from apex of anther when measured from center of gland; cauda 0.5-1.0 mm long. Ovary 3-5-locular; ovules axile-basal, produced only outwardly from each placenta, 11-19 in all; style white with purple apex in at least one instance, 13.0-18.0 mm long. Fruit yellow, crowned irregularly with the remains of the hypanthium or the calyx entirely deciduous, the fruit 1-5-seeded, subglobose when 1-seeded and often with the calyx located through differential development at less than 180° from the pedicel, depressed-globose or wider than thick when 2- or more-seeded, slightly lobed at least when dry according to the number of seeds within, typically broadest below the middle, 9.8-15.0 mm high, 10.7-17.7 mm thick when dry, estimated ca 12-19 mm high and 13-22 mm thick when fresh. Seeds brown, polished, 8.0-10.0 mm long and wide, when single irregularly subglobose with a flat irregularly and broadly elliptic basal hilum ca 6.5-7.5 mm long by 5.0-6.0 mm wide, when more than one the seeds flattened on the contact faces and shaped accordingly, the hilum then sometimes slanted upwards as much as 30° above horizontal (right angles to the pedicel) or turned sharply up at the inner angle.
Discussion:
The closest relative of this species is M. gleasoniana; differences between the two are discussed under that species.
The closest relative of this species is M. gleasoniana; differences between the two are discussed under that species.
Distribution:
Alta Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Izabal Guatemala Central America| Petén Guatemala Central America| Stann Creek Belize Central America| Belize Belize Central America| Cayo Belize Central America| Toledo Belize Central America|
Alta Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Izabal Guatemala Central America| Petén Guatemala Central America| Stann Creek Belize Central America| Belize Belize Central America| Cayo Belize Central America| Toledo Belize Central America|
Common Names:
Jug, cacho venado embra, sul-sul
Jug, cacho venado embra, sul-sul