Mouriri apiranga Spruce ex Triana
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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. R. Spruce 932 (published in the original description as 933 presumably by typographical error; lectotype, K; isotypes, BM, BR, CGE, F-frag., Fl, G, G-DC, GH, GOET, K, NY, OXF, P, RB, W). Brazil: Pará: vicinity of Santarem. In flower, July, 1850. Some of the isotypes lack number or date; those lacking the date could conceivably be the other collection Spruce made in this area a month earlier, both collections bearing the same number.
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Description
Description - Tree to 11 m high, often small and shrub-like, the trunk to 11 cm in diam; plants glabrous except for the inflorescence; young twigs terete or slightly channelled. Petioles 1.0-4.0 mm long; blades 7.6-19.5 cm long, 3.0-7.2 cm wide, elliptic to ovate-elliptic or these slightly oblong or all rather narrow, acuminate or shortly so to nearly acute or sometimes abruptly acuminate or short-acuminate at the apex, acute with an included angle of 80° to broadly acute or nearly rounded at base, often abruptly attenuate nearly to the base of the petiole; midrib plane to slightly rounded above, prominent below, rounded at base, rounded or becoming 2-angled above the base; lateral nerves invisible or obscurely visible above and below when dry. Midrib xylem tubular; stomatal crypts Type III, averaging in a leaf ca 55-125 µ in diam, 26-30 µ high, 30-73 per sq mm (extremes 35-175 µ diam, 23-31 µ high, 26-90 per sq mm), the roof typically papillose; upper epidermis one cell thick, with mucilaginous walls in occasional to many of the cells; hypodermis none; free cortical stone cells present at base of midvein and up to ca 1/3 of the way to the leaf tip; pith of medium sclerification for its length; terminal sclereids filiform, extending from epidermis to epidermis and running next to them for some distance, not branching. Inflorescences axillary and at leafless nodes of twigs to 8.0 mm thick, the peduncles 1-many per side, each 1-7-flowered, 0.5-4.1 mm long to base of farthest pedicel measuring along the axes and with 2 or 3 internodes in that length or reduced to 0 but with the bracts present at base of pedicel; bracts 0.8-2.0 mm long, triangular and acute to slightly ovate-triangular or the uppermost ovate and obtuse, deciduous at anthesis or later. Pedicels and lower part of ovaries minutely puberulent or sometimes glabrous, the rest of the ovaries and the calyces glabrous, axes of the inflorescence and bracts glabrous or rarely sparsely and minutely puberulent above. True pedicels 1.5-6.0(-9.0) mm long; calyx green or pale green; calyx including inferior ovary 3.0-4.4 mm long, campanulate; free hypanthium 1.3-1.5 mm long; calyx lobes before and at anthesis 0.6-1.2 mm long, 1.8-2.5 mm wide, 1.0-1.8 mm long from center of stamen attachment, broadly triangular to broadly rounded to broadly rounded and apiculate, the calyx splitting between the lobes at anthesis 0-0.2 mm. Petals fugacious, light rose to rose to purple or sometimes white with a lilac center, 4.2-6.5 mm long, 4.0-6.5 mm wide, broadly ovate to subrotund, rounded to abruptly acute at the apex, broadly rounded at base and abruptly attenuate into a short claw 0.4-1.0 mm long. Filaments 4.0-7.0 mm long; anthers yellow, 1.6-2.5 mm long; sporangia 1.4-1.8 mm long, dehiscing by apical pores; gland 0.5-0.9 mm long, 1.0-1.7 mm from apex of anther when measured from center of gland; cauda 0.5-1.0 mm long. Ovary 3-4-locular; placentae basal in each locule, the ovules borne on all sides of a short basal column, ca 3 per placenta, 9-12 in all; style 10.0-14.0 mm long. Fruits yellow to orange to vermilion, edible, sweet, of pleasant taste, subglobose or apparently depressed-globose when more than 1-seeded, crowned with the remains of the calyx, ca 12-15 mm long excluding calyx and 12-17 mm in diam when dry, estimated 14-19 mm long and 14-21 mm in diam when fresh. Seeds 1-3, medium to dark brown, hard and smooth, irregularly ellipsoid, slightly compressed, flattened on the contact faces when seeds more than one, slightly constricted ca 1/4 of their height above the base, 9.5-12.0 mm high, 6.5-8.7 mm wide, 5.5-7.5 mm thick, with a broad roundish basal hilum 3.9-6.0 mm in diam, the hilum tilted at a slight angle above horizontal.
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Common Names
Apiranga, uapiranga
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Distribution
Southwest and south-central Amazonia, south of the Amazon except northeast of Santarem, Pará, where the plant was collected at about 2° S; Peru on the Río Acre; Brazil, in southeast Acre, north Rondonia, east Amazonas, Pará west of the Araguaia, and north Mato Grosso. Primary or secondary mixed forests above or below flood level, especially on river banks and beaches; forest margins, savanna, cerrado (Amazonas), and a rocky island also are specified; varzea and igapó are reported in Pará.
Madre de Dios Peru South America| Acre Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Mato Grosso Brazil South America|