Micropholis porphyrocarpa (Baehni) Monach.
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Authority
Pennington, Terence D. 1990. Sapotaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 52: 1-750. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Sapotaceae
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Scientific Name
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Synonyms
Pouteria porphyrocarpa Baehni
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Description
Species Description - Tree; young shoots coarsely golden or brown tomentose, eventually becoming glabrous, greyish-brown, scaly, without lenticels. Leaves spaced, spirally arranged or alternate and distichous, 615 × 2-4.5 cm, oblanceolate, oblong or narrowly elliptic, apex narrowly acuminate to rounded, base acute to narrowly attenuate, coriaceous, glabrous above, densely sericeous-pubescent below, with the golden hairs persisting, or leaf eventually becoming glabrous, venation craspedodromous, with a strong marginal vein, midrib sunken on the upper surface, secondary veins ascending, finely striate, indistinguishable from the intersecondaries and tertiaries. Petiole 0.5-1.1 cm long,channelled, tomentose. Fascicles 1-10-flowered, axillary at first, often persisting and developing into short densely scaly brachyblasts 2-3 mm long. Flowers sessile, unisexual (plant dioecious). Sepals five, 3-4 mm long, elliptic, apex obtuse, densely pubescent outside, appressed puberulous inside. Corolla ca. 3.5 mm long, shortly tubular, tube ca. 2.5 mm long, lobes five, ca. 1 mm long, lanceolate, obtuse, glabrous. Stamens five, included; filaments ca. 0.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers ca. 0.6 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, glabrous; stamens absent in female flowers. Staminodes five, ca. 0.75 mm long, subulate, glabrous. Disk absent. Ovary ovoid, gradually tapering into the style, five-locular, densely long stiff-pubescent; style ca. 1 mm long after anthesis, hairy below; style-head minutely lobed; pistillode of male flowers strongly flattened, with a slender style. Fruit 1.8-3 cm long, narrowly ellipsoid, beaked, base rounded, smooth or slightly longitudinally ribbed, pubescent to glabrous. Seed solitary, 1-1.7 cm long, laterally compressed, testa minutely transversely wrinkled, shining; scar adaxial, 1-3 mm wide. Field characters. Tree to 35 m high and 60 cm diam., with steep simple narrow buttresses to 1.5 m high, tapering into a fluted bole; bark rich brown or orange-brown, scaling in small thin irregular pieces, exfoliating from the base, slash orange to pale cream, laminated, with yellowish-white or white, sticky exudate. Flowers white or pale green, fruit maturing deep purple or black. Flowering recorded Sep to Nov and Mar to Apr, fruit Nov to Feb.
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Common Names
balata rosada, depiaratan
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Objects
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Distribution
Guyana, French Guiana, Amazonian Brazil to Peru. A plant of upland nonflooded forest, up to 500 m altitude.
Guyana South America| French Guiana South America| Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Pasco Peru South America| Brazil South America| Acre Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Roraima Brazil South America|