Persea alba Nees
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Authority
Kopp, Lucille E. 1966. A tasonomic revision of the genus Persea in the Western Hemisphere (Perseae-Lauraceae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 14: 1-117.
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Family
Lauraceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Trees; branchlets slender, densely tawny-sericeous, the bark not aromatic; petioles 0.8-2 cm., slender, densely tawny-sericeous; leaf-blades 6-13 cm. long, 1-3 cm. wide, subchartaceous, elliptic to narrowly oblong, the tips acute to subacuminate, the bases acute to rounded, the upper surface dull, glabrescent, the lower surface tawny-sericeous, the costa slightly impressed above, prominent beneath, the 6-13 pairs of primary nerves divergent at 50-70°, plane and obscure above, prominent beneath, the reticulation obscure on both surfaces. Inflorescences axillary, paniculate; flowers subsessile, sericeous; (all floral observations made from remains on fruiting material) outer perianth-segments ovate, sericeous without, glabrous within; inner-perianth segments 14 longer than the outer, sericeous without and within; stamens of series I and II, the anthers quadrilocular; filaments of series III, the glands subsessile, adnate to the basal 1/5 of the filament, the anthers quadrilocular, laterally dehiscent; staminodia of series IV sagittate; gynoecium seemingly glabrous. Infructescence well-developed, 1/2-1 1/4 times the length of its subtending leaf; peduncles 3.5-10 cm. long, the rachis 2 cm. long; pedicels thickened; perianth-segments patent, ultimately deciduous at their bases; fruits 1.8 cm. long, ovoid.
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Discussion
Type collection. F. Sellow 1361, Brasilia. (B).
The appressed pubescence, geography, and perianth-size and shape indicate a relationship between P. alba and P. fulva Aar. strigosifolia. T h e differences are numerous: the angle of divergence of the primary nerves from the costa is greater, the leaves are relatively narrower, and the veins are more ntuuerous in P. alba.