Mouriri collocarpa Ducke
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Authority
Morley, Thomas. 1976. Melastomataceae tribe Memecyleae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 15: 1-295. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Melastomataceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. A. Ducke sn, RB 25516, Y 173 (lectotype, RB; isotypes, A, F, G, IAN (frag.), K, MAD, NY, P, S, U, US). Brazil: Amazonas: near Manaus, toward Marapatá, in non-flooded forest on clay soil. In flower, 6 Dec 1932.
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Synonyms
Mouriri acutiflora var. oligantha Gleason
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Description
Description - Glabrous tree to 30 m high with a trunk to ca 45 cm in diameter; young twigs terete; bole cylindrical, slightly lobed at base; bark gray, finely, deeply, and reticulately fissured, sometimes deciduous in thin narrow strips; wood whitish, hard. Petioles 3.0-5.0 mm long; fresh blades dark green and slightly glossy above, pale green and shiny beneath, 4.9-11.5 cm long, 2.3-5.0 cm wide, ovate to ovate-elliptic to elliptic, abruptly acuminate or short-acuminate at the apex, rounded to broadly acute or acute and abruptly attenuate at base; midrib grooved above, low-rounded below; lateral nerves not visible when dry. Stomatal crypts none; hypodermis present, one cell thick; mucilage walls none; free stone cells present along the midrib to the leaf tip; terminal sclereids stellate, the central body l-3(-5) times as long as wide, with few to many sharp arms, the body itself sometimes branched. Inflorescences 1-4 in the axils or at each side of leafless nodes just below the leaves, each 3-15-flowered, 2.6-7.0 mm long to base of farthest pedicel measured along the axes and with 2-4 internodes in that length; internode at pedicel base 0.1-0.7(-1.2) mm long; axis of inflorescence often drying black to the base; bracts 1.0-2.0 mm long, elliptic-oblong to ovate, at least the upper ones rounded or rarely broadly acute, all deciduous by or persistent till anthesis. Flowers odorless. True pedicels 2.4-7.5 mm long; calyx including inferior ovary 3.8-6.0 mm long, cup-shaped; calyx and ovary green in life, drying black or greenish-black; free hypanthium 1.4-2.3 mm long; calyx lobes before anthesis truncate and apiculate, 0.2-0.4 mm long, 1.4-2.5 mm wide, 1.1-1.9 mm long when measured from stamen attachment, the calyx splitting between the lobes at anthesis for a distance of 1.0-1.4 mm. Petals yellow, ovate, acuminate, 5.5-9.3 mm long, 2.2-4.5 mm wide, drying brownish to black, tending to persist on the dried flower. Filaments 4.0-7.5 mm long; anthers 2.1-2.6 mm long; sporangia 1.6-2.3 mm long, dehiscing by apical slits; gland 0.8-1.4 mm long, 1.0-1.4 mm from apex of anther when measured from center of gland; cauda ca 0.5-0.8 mm long. Ovary 3-5-locular; ovules axile, all at same level, 12-15 in all; style 10.0-15.0 mm long. Fruit yellow, fragrant, sweet but too viscous to be edible, subglobose to somewhat oblong, usually slightly depressed-globose, ca. 25-35 mm in diameter when dry, ca 35-70 mm in diam when fresh. Seeds (1-)2, 15.7-20.2 mm high, 17.0-23.4 mm wide, 8.5-12.0 mm thick, often notched at the apex, with a polished outer face 11.0-17.0 mm high by 9.2-14.5 mm wide, bordered by an unpolished irregularly grooved rim on all sides except the base.
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Discussion
Easily confused with M. acutiflora on first acquaintance, M. collocarpa differs in having fewer flowers in a shorter inflorescence, rounded bracts, a very short internode at the pedicel base, darker colors on drying, wider and more truncate calyx lobes, apical split dehiscence of the anthers, and more locules in the ovary.
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Common Names
Orokaikoballi, sipiki-oudou, Mamãozinho, miratúba, Casca da Assahy
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Distribution
Venezuela in Amazonas near the Orinoco River; Surinam; French Guiana; and Brazil in Amazonas in the drainage of the Rio Negro and east of Manaus, and in Pará within 150 km of the Amazon River. Moist primary or secondary forests above flood level, at elevations up to 100 m or slightly higher, on clayey or sandy soil.
French Guiana South America| Suriname South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Amazonas Venezuela South America|