Heisteria laxiflora Engl.

  • Authority

    Sleumer, Hermann O. 1984. Olacaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 38: 1-159. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Olacaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Heisteria laxiflora Engl.

  • Type

    Type. Brazil. Amazonas: Mouth of Rio Negro, S of Manaus, May 1851 (fr), Spruce 1549 (lectotype, M, photo F neg. 19087; isolectotypes, B, BM, C, E, F, photo F neg. 56740, Fl-Webb, G, GOET, L, LE, MO, OXF, P).

  • Description

    Species Description - Glabrous tree, 5-17(-28) m tall; trunk 10-25(-30) cm diam. Branchlets subangular, striate, slender. Leaves lanceolate to elliptic-oblong, apex subcaudate-acuminate for 1.5-2(-3) cm, tip acute or bluntish, base broadly attenuate to obtuse or rounded, the very base suddenly contracted for 2-3 mm, subcoriaceous, often conduplicate, dark brown when dry, shiny mainly above, shallowly tuberculate above, usually much more distinctly so all over the undersurface, not properly wrinkled, edge subrevolute, 6-10(-13, -20) x 2.5-5(-7, -10) cm, midrib rather plane or slightly raised above, prominent and striate-canaliculate in dry specimens beneath, lateral nerves 5-6(-8) pairs and a few shorter irregular ones between arcuate-ascending, looping before the edge, slightly though distinctly impressed above, plane or a little raised in their upper part beneath, reticulation of veins and veinlets dense, characteristically immersed above, and more slightly so beneath; petiole somewhat thickened and rugulose in its upper ½, 0.8-1.5 cm x 1-1.5 mm. Flowers 6-12 per axillary fascicle from rather small multibracteolate cushions; pedicels (very) slender, 5-8 mm long. Calyx cup-shaped, 5-lobed halfway, lobes ovoid-deltoid, ca. 1 mm long. Petals ovate-acuminate, greenish, ca. 2 mm long. Stamens 10. Drupe ellipsoid, sometimes subobovoid, smooth, hardly striate, (0.8-) 1 cm long, 0.6-0.8 cm diam., pale green, yellowish or whitish. Fruit-calyx membranaceous, veined, first green, finally turning red, 2-2.4 cm diam. when expanded, 5-lobed halfway, lobes obtuse, first erect and plicate, often including the drupe then, finally more or less spreading or even reflexed; peduncle slender, ca. 1 cm long.

  • Discussion

    Of the three syntypes cited by Engler, Spruce 1549 has been chosen as lectotype by Guimarães et al. (1971). The other syntypes (from Bahia and Rio de Janeiro) belong to H. perianthomega (Vellozo) Sleumer.

  • Distribution

    Amazonian Brazil; in primary and secondary rain forest, on terra firme, at low alt.

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