Myrcia extranea McVaugh
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Authority
Maguire, Bassett. 1969. The botany of the Guayana Highland-part VIII. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 18: 1-290.
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Family
Myrtaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Arbor M . minutiflorae similis sed foliis latioribus vix caudatis, venis marginalibus intra marginem 1-2.5 mm distantibus, fructu 8-10 mm diametro, calyce 4- vel 5-lobo differt; arbor 5-metralis, ramulis inflorescentiaque subhirsutis, pilis grossis sordidis usque ad 1-1.2 mm longis; folia subglabra, elhptica, 6-11 cm longa, 3-5 cm lata, 2-3-plo longiora quam latiora, acuminata, basi acuta, marginibus cuneatim decurrentibus; petioli profunde canaliculati, 5-7 mm longi; nervus medius supra impressus; venae laterales utrinque 10-12, supra plusminusve impressae, subtus prominentes; flores ignoti; pedunculus fructificans axillaris, 4-9 mm longus, fructu subgloboso 8-10 mm diametro terminatus; calycis lobi 4-5, fructu erecti, subimbricati, 2 mm longi, intus minute pubescentes; discus 3 mm latus, hirsutus; annulus staminalis hirsutulus, fructu circa 0.5 mm supra germen elevatus. A tree 5 m high, the young growth, branchlets and inflorescence hirsute with appressed-ascending coarse bristle-like hairs up to 1-1.2 mm long, and shorter stiff hairs intermixed; immature leaves not seen, probably nearly glabrous above from the first, a few hairs persisting beneath especially on the veins; leaves elliptic, 6-11 cm long, 3-5 cm wide, 2-3 times as long as wide, prominently acuminate at apex, acute at base, the margins cuneately decurrent on the narrow inner angles of the deeply channeled petiole 1.5 mm thick, 5-7 mm long; midvein deeply and narrowly impressed above in a persistently bristly-pubescent groove; lateral veins 10-12 on each side without any evident intermediates, often a little impressed above, prominent beneath; marginal vein less prominent than the lateral ones and shallowly arched between them, 1-2.5 mm from the margin; upper leaf-surface smooth or with a network of very fine reticulate veinlets, the lower paler and gland-dotted; flowers and inflorescence unknown; peduncles in fruit axillary, 4-9 mm long, ca 1 mm in diam, hirsute, each bearing a terminal "orange" or "orange-yellow" nearly globose fruit 8-10 mm in diam; calyx-lobes 5 (in no. 2248) or apparently 4 (in no. 1990), erect and imbricate on the fruit, forming an open crown, the calyx contracted beneath them into a very short neck; lobes nearly equal, broadly ovate-deltoid, acute, 2 mm long and wide, coarsely strigose without, finely pubescent within; disk 3 mm wide, hirsute; staminal ring hirsutulous, in fruit raised about 0.5 mm above the summit of the ovary; seed myrcioid, the testa cartilaginous.
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Discussion
A distinctive species but in the absence of flowering material its affinities are not easily ascertained. In its foliar morphology, in pubescence and in the reduction of the inflorescence to a single short-pedunculate flower it much resembles Myrcia minutiflora; for this reason it is placed provisionally in sect Armeriela. The persistent calyx-lobes and the pubescence of the interior of the hypanthium are unusual in that section.
Distribution and Ecology: BRITISH GUIANA. Kaieteur Plateau, near Kaieteur Fahs, elev ca 420 m, 20 :Mar 1962, Cowan & Soderstrom 2248 (MICH, type), 27 Feb 1962, Cowan & Soderstrom 1990 ( M I C H ).