Mouriri cauliflora Mart. ex DC.
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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. C. F. P. von Martius 3161 (holotype, M; isotype, G-DC-frag.). Colombia: Caquetá: Alto do Amazonas, in sylva ad Vad. M. Araracoara. In flower, December, no year given.
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Description
Description - Shrub or small tree, sometimes to 12 m high with a trunk to 10 cm in diam, glabrous except for the inflorescence; young twigs narrowly 4-winged, bark of trunk smooth, gray; wood very fibrous. Petioles 0-3.5 mm long; blades dark green above, dull green below, dimorphic, those of dorsiventral shoots 9.3-23.0 cm long, 4.4-8.0 cm wide, moderately to narrowly ovate-oblong, ovate-elliptic, or nearly oblong, acuminate or abruptly so at the apex, cordate at base with a notch 2.0-12.0 mm deep; blades of the leader shoots much smaller, as little as 2.2 cm long and 2.6 cm wide, sometimes emarginate; midrib rounded above with a shallow groove along each side, prominent below and sharply 2-angled except near the base; lateral nerves invisible or very faintly visible above and below when dry. Midrib xylem tubular; stomatal crypts Type III, averaging in a leaf ca 50-113 µ in diam, 31-35 µ high, 27-47 per sq mm (extremes 35-161 m diam, 25-40 µ high, 18-54 per sq mm); upper epidermis one cell thick, all cells with mucilaginous walls; hypodermis none; free stone cells present along the length of the midrib; terminal sclereids columnar, branching at both ends and spreading a short distance next to the epidermis. Inflorescences on trunk and on branches as little as 11.0 mm thick, 1-many peduncles together, each 1-3-flowered, 2.4-19.0 mm long to base of farthest pedicel measured along the axes and with l-3(-4) internodes in that length; bracts 0.5-1.2 mm long, triangular or slightly ovate-triangular, acute to acuminate, present at anthesis. Axes of inflorescence, bracts, pedicels, and ovary base minutely puberulent. True pedicels 1.0-11.0 mm long; calyx including inferior ovary 5.0-7.0 mm long, broadly obconic to campanulate, the 5 locules slightly bulging externally or not apparent; calyx green at first, often turning violet; apparent free hypanthium as measured to style base ca 2.7-4.5 mm long; calyx lobes before anthesis 0.7-1.7 mm long, 1.5-2.7 mm wide, 1.7-2.7 mm long from stamen attachment, triangular to ovate-triangular, acute to obtuse, splitting apart at anthesis a further length of 0.8-1.6 mm. Petals white to pink or rose-violet, ca 6.0 mm long by 3.2 mm wide, ovate to trullate, acute, with a short basal claw. Filaments white to rose-white, 5.0-7.0 mm long; anthers yellow, 2.6-4.2 mm long; sporangia 2.5-4.0 mm long, dehiscing by apical pores; gland 0.4-1.0 mm long, 1.8-3.2 mm from apex of anther when measured from center of gland; cauda 0.3-1.1 mm long. Ovary 5-locular, the locules widely separated and appearing as if in the base of the hypanthium; placentae parietal in each locule, the ovules borne on all sides of a short parietal column, (3-)5-9 per locule, ca 23-40 in all; style declined, ciliate at the tip. Fruit red, astringent, consisting of 1-5 subglobose lobes independently attached to the old hypanthium and calyx, the lobes sometimes contacting each other but not laterally fused, each lobe ca 5.0-8.0 mm in diam when dry, estimated 6.0-10.0 mm when fresh, 1-seeded, developed from 1 locule of the ovary, the whole fruit 16.0-18.0 mm wide when dry and the lobes are 3 or more, estimated 19-23 mm when fresh. Seeds brown, smooth, irregularly spheroid but somewhat pointed opposite the broad flat lateral hilum, ca 5.3-6.5 mm in diam, the hilum irregularly roundish, ca 4.4-4.9 mm in diam, facing away from the center of the flower in those examined.
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Discussion
The species is recognizable by its smooth elongate leaves in which the midrib is set off by a groove along each side, and by the relatively large flower with widely separated locules.
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Distribution
Western Amazonia: Venezuela in western Amazonas; Colombia in eastern Caquetá and eastern Vaupés; Brazil in Amazonas. Moist forests mostly above flood level, reported once from caatinga, the soil often sandy, at elevations up to 180 m.
Amazonas Venezuela South America| Vaupés Colombia South America| Amazonas Brazil South America|