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 - Tree to 15 m high with a trunk to 20 cm in diam or larger; crown broad, the lower branches tending to droop; plants glabrous except for the pedicels; young twigs 4-winged; bark of older trunk light gray-brown, scaly, curling and peeling in thin sheets 2-5 cm wide. Petioles 1.0-2.0 mm long; blades 3.6-14.0 cm long, 1.6-4.5 cm wide, usually narrowly elliptic to ovaterelliptic to oblong-elliptic, seldom of medium proportions, short-acuminate to acute to abruptly medium-acuminate or acute at the apex, acute with a 60° included angle to more usually rounded or cordate with a shallow notch at base; midrib grooved above for its length, prominent below, rounded or slightly 2-angled at base, becoming squared (in section) 1/6-1/3 of the way to the tip; lateral nerves plane or very slightly raised above and below when fresh, then obscurely visible, raised and distinct when dry. Midrib xylem tubular; stomatal crypts intermediate between Types I and II, averaging in a leaf 32-51 µ diam, 18-23 µ high, 75-128 per sq mm (extremes 22-71 µ diam, 15-25 µ high, 60-150 per sq mm); upper epidermis varying irregularly from one cell to two cells thick in the same leaf, sometimes mostly one cell thick, with mucilaginous walls in most of the cells contacting the palisade; hypodermis none; free stone cells present only at base of midvein or a few scattered along its upper side for ca 2 cm; terminal sclereids with an elongate horizontal body, usually unbranched or little-branched horizontally, with more such branches on sclereids near the midrib, columnar arms often present, the sclereids often infrequent. Inflorescences mostly at leafless nodes just below the leaf zone on twigs to 5.0 mm thick, very rarely axillary, 1-ca 10 per side, usually with short internodes, the flowers appearing densely clustered, up to a total of ca 15 per side, each inflorescence 1-6-flowered, 1.4-7.0 mm long to base of farthest pedicel measured along the axes and with 1-3 internodes in that length; bracts 1.2-2.0 mm long, lance-triangular to ovate-triangular, acute, some persistent and some deciduous at anthesis. True pedicels 3.5-14.0 mm long, glabrous or with scattered tiny globules; calyx green; calyx including inferior ovary 2.7-4.0 mm long, campanulate, the ovary locules bulging externally at least in dry material; free hypanthium 1.5-1.8 mm long; calyx lobes at anthesis 0.6-1.3 mm long, 1.3-2.2 mm wide, 0.6-1.3 mm long from the stamen attachment, broadly triangular to broadly rounded and apiculate, the calyx not splitting between the lobes at anthesis. Petals white, 2.4-6.0 mm long, 2.2-5.0 mm wide, ovate, ovate-triangular, or ovate-oblong, acute or abruptly so at the apex, short-clawed to nearly sessile at base or sometimes cordate with the blade extended to the base on each side of the claw. Antesepalous filaments 4.0-5.0 mm long, antepetalous ones 5.0-7.0 mm long; anthers yellow, 1.8-2.8 mm long; sporangia 1.3-1.9 mm long, dehiscing by elongate apical pores; gland 0.4-0.5 mm long, 1.3-2.0 mm from apex of anther when measured from center of gland; cauda 0.8-1.3 mm long. Ovary 5-locular; placentae basal in each locule, the ovules borne on all sides of a short basal column, 2-5 per placenta, 14-19 in all; style 7.5-12.0 mm long. Fruit yellow to orange, 1-3-seeded, globose when 1-seeded, wider than high and prominently lobed according to the number of seeds when these are more than 1, crowned with the hypanthium and often some Calyx-lobes, the hypanthium often brought to within 90° or less of the pedicel through unequal development of the ovules, the fruits 9.0-12.5 mm high excluding hypanthium, 9.0-17.0 mm wide, 8.5-11.5 mm thick when dry, ca 11.5-18.5 mm high, 11.5-21.0 mm wide, and 11.5-14.5 mm thick when fresh. Seeds medium brown, polished, irregularly globose when 1, flattened on the contact faces when more than 1, 7.2-9.0 mm high, 7.7-9.2 mm wide, 6.4-7.8 mm thick, with a convex roundish basal hilum 5.06.5 mm in diam.
Description - Tree to 15 m high with a trunk to 20 cm in diam or larger; crown broad, the lower branches tending to droop; plants glabrous except for the pedicels; young twigs 4-winged; bark of older trunk light gray-brown, scaly, curling and peeling in thin sheets 2-5 cm wide. Petioles 1.0-2.0 mm long; blades 3.6-14.0 cm long, 1.6-4.5 cm wide, usually narrowly elliptic to ovaterelliptic to oblong-elliptic, seldom of medium proportions, short-acuminate to acute to abruptly medium-acuminate or acute at the apex, acute with a 60° included angle to more usually rounded or cordate with a shallow notch at base; midrib grooved above for its length, prominent below, rounded or slightly 2-angled at base, becoming squared (in section) 1/6-1/3 of the way to the tip; lateral nerves plane or very slightly raised above and below when fresh, then obscurely visible, raised and distinct when dry. Midrib xylem tubular; stomatal crypts intermediate between Types I and II, averaging in a leaf 32-51 µ diam, 18-23 µ high, 75-128 per sq mm (extremes 22-71 µ diam, 15-25 µ high, 60-150 per sq mm); upper epidermis varying irregularly from one cell to two cells thick in the same leaf, sometimes mostly one cell thick, with mucilaginous walls in most of the cells contacting the palisade; hypodermis none; free stone cells present only at base of midvein or a few scattered along its upper side for ca 2 cm; terminal sclereids with an elongate horizontal body, usually unbranched or little-branched horizontally, with more such branches on sclereids near the midrib, columnar arms often present, the sclereids often infrequent. Inflorescences mostly at leafless nodes just below the leaf zone on twigs to 5.0 mm thick, very rarely axillary, 1-ca 10 per side, usually with short internodes, the flowers appearing densely clustered, up to a total of ca 15 per side, each inflorescence 1-6-flowered, 1.4-7.0 mm long to base of farthest pedicel measured along the axes and with 1-3 internodes in that length; bracts 1.2-2.0 mm long, lance-triangular to ovate-triangular, acute, some persistent and some deciduous at anthesis. True pedicels 3.5-14.0 mm long, glabrous or with scattered tiny globules; calyx green; calyx including inferior ovary 2.7-4.0 mm long, campanulate, the ovary locules bulging externally at least in dry material; free hypanthium 1.5-1.8 mm long; calyx lobes at anthesis 0.6-1.3 mm long, 1.3-2.2 mm wide, 0.6-1.3 mm long from the stamen attachment, broadly triangular to broadly rounded and apiculate, the calyx not splitting between the lobes at anthesis. Petals white, 2.4-6.0 mm long, 2.2-5.0 mm wide, ovate, ovate-triangular, or ovate-oblong, acute or abruptly so at the apex, short-clawed to nearly sessile at base or sometimes cordate with the blade extended to the base on each side of the claw. Antesepalous filaments 4.0-5.0 mm long, antepetalous ones 5.0-7.0 mm long; anthers yellow, 1.8-2.8 mm long; sporangia 1.3-1.9 mm long, dehiscing by elongate apical pores; gland 0.4-0.5 mm long, 1.3-2.0 mm from apex of anther when measured from center of gland; cauda 0.8-1.3 mm long. Ovary 5-locular; placentae basal in each locule, the ovules borne on all sides of a short basal column, 2-5 per placenta, 14-19 in all; style 7.5-12.0 mm long. Fruit yellow to orange, 1-3-seeded, globose when 1-seeded, wider than high and prominently lobed according to the number of seeds when these are more than 1, crowned with the hypanthium and often some Calyx-lobes, the hypanthium often brought to within 90° or less of the pedicel through unequal development of the ovules, the fruits 9.0-12.5 mm high excluding hypanthium, 9.0-17.0 mm wide, 8.5-11.5 mm thick when dry, ca 11.5-18.5 mm high, 11.5-21.0 mm wide, and 11.5-14.5 mm thick when fresh. Seeds medium brown, polished, irregularly globose when 1, flattened on the contact faces when more than 1, 7.2-9.0 mm high, 7.7-9.2 mm wide, 6.4-7.8 mm thick, with a convex roundish basal hilum 5.06.5 mm in diam.
Discussion:
One surmises that the distributional gap between Bahia and Rio de Janeiro may some day be bridged by further collecting. Although there is a considerable range in leaf size within the species, there appears at present to be insufficient basis for recognition of subspecific taxa.
One surmises that the distributional gap between Bahia and Rio de Janeiro may some day be bridged by further collecting. Although there is a considerable range in leaf size within the species, there appears at present to be insufficient basis for recognition of subspecific taxa.
Distribution:
Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| São Paulo Brazil South America| Paraná Brazil South America| Santa Catarina Brazil South America|
Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| São Paulo Brazil South America| Paraná Brazil South America| Santa Catarina Brazil South America|
Common Names:
Maria preta, cafezinho, guaramirim ripa, mandapusa, pau-ripa
Maria preta, cafezinho, guaramirim ripa, mandapusa, pau-ripa