Metrodorea flavida K.Krause

Authority

Kaastra, Roelof C. 1982. A monograph of the Pilocarpinae (Rutaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 33: 1-198. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family

Rutaceae

Scientific Name

Metrodorea flavida K.Krause

Type

Type. Ule 9491, Brazil. Acre: Rio Acre, Monte Mó, Dec 1911, fl (holotype, B, destroyed, photo 12487 made by F, F, NY; isotypes, G, K, L, U, UC).

Synonyms

Esenbeckia coriacea A.C.Sm.

Description

Species Description - Shrub or usually tree (1.5-)3-18(-27) m tall; trunk 10-20(-40) cm in diam.; branchlets 3-7(-10) mm in diam., brown, reddish-brown when young, shining, lenticels spindle-shaped ca. 0.3-1 mm long, puberulous with spreading hairs ca. 0.05 mm, becoming glabrous in age. Leaves 1-3-foliolate with usually sessile or shortly stalked leaflets; sheath 4-10 mm long, inner margin ciliate with hairs to 0.4 mm long, abaxial side pubescent with hairs to 0.4 mm, becoming glabrous in age; petiole subterete, (shallowly) canaliculate, not or obsoletely winged, 4-40 mm long and 1-2 mm thick, pubescent with spreading hairs ca. 0.05 mm, becoming glabrous in age; wings to 0.2 mm broad and usually not eared; petiolules 0-2 mm long; leaflet blades elliptic or slightly obovate, rarely ovate, 7-25 × 2.5-9.5 cm or sometimes smaller towards apex of the branchlets, (shortly) attenuate or narrowly cuneate at base, at apex acuminate or occasionally slightly acuminate or obtuse, the very tip obtuse, the margin not revolute or only slightly so, the blade (sub)coriaceous, shining, glabrous or occasionally pubescent at base like the petioles, becoming glabrous in age, venation ± prominent, midvein plane or prominulous, sometimes slightly impressed towards base. Inflorescences terminal or axillary near tips of branches, widely paniculate, shorter or usually longer than the leaves, (7-)10-25(-30) × (5-)8-25 cm, numerous-flowered, pubescent with spreading hairs 0.05-0.1 mm, the lowermost side-branchlets usually subtended by the upper pair of leaves; bracts (depressedly) ovate or triangular, to 2(-5) × 1.2-1.5(-4.5) mm, rarely the lowest bracts leaf-like and up to 12 × 1 mm, minutely pubescent below with hairs 0.05-0.1 mm long, less dense above; pedicels 1.5-6 mm long and 0.2-0.5 mm thick; bractlets 2, (sub)opposite. Flowers 6.5-8.3 mm in diam., usually 7.5-8 mm, not fragrant (Capucho 475); calyx lobes subquincuncial or subcochlear to separate, depressedly ovate, (0.4-)0.7- 1 × (0.7-) 1-1.4 mm, slightly acuminate or obtuse, glabrous above, minutely pubescent below with spreading hairs 0.05 mm long; petals deciduous, valvate, very widely spreading, ovate, unguiculate, 3.5-4 × 1.5-2.5 mm, the claw 0.2-0.5 mm, acutish at tip, thickly coriaceous becoming thinly so, yellow-white when alive, brownish-yellow when dried, densely pubescent above with spreading hairs ca. 0.05 mm long, or papillose, pubescent or subglabrous below with spreading hairs 0.05-0.1 mm long; filaments persistent, 2.4-3 mm long and 0.3 mm thick, yellowish tending to become rose, glabrous; anthers broadly ovate to nearly heartshaped, 0.5-0.6 × 0.4-0.6 mm, becoming purplish, occasionally papillose; disc in the upper half 5-partite, not projecting beyond the ovary, (0.7-) 1 mm high in all, (1.8-)2(-2.5) mm in diam., becoming dark, upper part densely charged with thick tubercles ca. 0.1-0.4 mm long; carpels 0.5-0.6 mm on a raised receptacle, densely charged with clavate or finger-like, thick protuberances 0.2-0.8 mm, which are glabrous or pilose with spreading hairs 0.05-0.1 mm long; style inserted half-way on the carpels, (1-) 1.2-1.5 mm long and 0.3-0.5 mm thick, projecting 0.5-1 mm beyond protuberances of ovary, with some basal glands, glabrous; stigma capitate, 5-lobed, 0.2-0.3 × 0.4-0.5 mm. Fruits ± depressedly globose, stellately-lobed, (15-)20-28 x (15-)20-30 mm(-48 when dehisced), loculi near middle bearing a dorsal, blunt apophysis 5-10 mm long, transverse-parallel nerves hardly visible externally except near the commissures and sometimes at tip, strongly muricate with tubercles to 3-5 mm long, dehiscent septicidally from ca. 3 mm above base up to some mm below tip and loculicidally up to (half-way) the apophysis; seeds usually 2 per loculus, superposed, ovoid, 5-7 × 3.5-4.5 × 4-5.5 mm, flattened at or near base, rounded at apex, testa thinly coriaceous, dull medium brown, irregularly pustulate and reticulate-colliculate; chalazal area tearshaped, shining, dark brown, ca. 3.5 × 2.5 mm; hilum ca. 1 mm broad; embryo punctate, radicle projecting among the ears.

Discussion

The flowers differ from those of Metrodorea nigra in the yellow-white color, longer filaments, style already projecting before the shedding of pollen, and in the more strongly tuberculate and less deeply partite disc. Vegetatively M. flavida resembles M. nigra.

Distribution

Surinam, NW Brazil, and Bolivia. High forest on terra firme; woods on lateritic soils, and Capoeira; alt. 35-1500 m. Flowering mainly Oct-Jan. Fig. 35B.

Suriname South America| Brazil South America| Acre Brazil South America| Bolivia South America|