Melicoccus pedicellaris (Radlk.) Acev.-Rodr.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2003. Meliococceae (Sapindaceae):
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Family
Sapindaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. French Guiana. Acarouany, 1858 (fl), Sagot 1188 (lectotype, P, here designated; isolectotypes, K-2, P-7; frag, at M). Syntype. French Guiana. Maroni river, without date (fr), Melinon s.n. (M, P).
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Synonyms
Talisia pulverulenta Radlk.
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Description
Species Description - Tree 12-14 m tall, with stout lateral branches on upper one-third of trunk; trunk reaching 25 cm in diam.; buttressed at base; bark brown or reddish brown, rough, thin, peeling off in irregular plates; inner bark reddish brown. Branches terete, puberulent, becoming lenticellate. Leaves paripinnate; distal process acicular, ca. 3 mm long, tardily deciduous leaving a truncate base ca. 0.6 mm long; leaflets 4 or 6, opposite or alternate, ovate, widely oblong, elliptic, or widely elliptic, chartaceous, 4-14.5 × 1.8-6.6 cm, adaxially glabrous or sometimes the midvein ferruginous, appressed-pubescent, abaxially glabrous to densely puberulent, very often with midvein and secondaries ferruginous-hirsutulous, the venation brochidodromus, tertiary veins reticulate, the apex long-acuminate to caudate, the base obtuse, acute, to nearly rounded, sometimes slightly inequilateral; petiolules cylindrical, 2-5 mm long, glabrous, puberulent or pubescent, less often with scattered ferruginous erect hairs; rachis 1.2-5.4 cm long, terete or nearly so, with same indumentum as the petiolules; petioles 2-11 cm long, adaxially slightly flattened, with same indumentum as the rachis, slightly enlarged at base. Thyrses racemiform, solitary and supra-axillary or terminal and congested, 4-8 cm long; cataphylls clustered, acicular, 1.5-2 mm long; axes sulcate, puberulent, sometimes with glandular papillae; bracts and bracteoles deltate or subulate, < 0.6 mm long; dichasia simple or the flowers solitary (due to aborted lateral flowers), especially toward distal portion of inflorescence; peduncle slightly flattened, 1-2 mm long, with same indumentum as the axes; pedicels 0.5-1 mm long, articulate at base. Calyx pale green, 2-2.5 mm long, puberulent, margins ciliate, the sepals unequal, free to the base or nearly so, oblong to ovate; petals white, rhombate, 2-2.5 mm long, glabrous, the margins ciliate, extended, inrolled (appendage-like) at base, the apex obtuse, the base cuneate; appendages wanting; disc annular, unlobed or slightly lobed, glabrous, ca. 0.5 mm tall; stamens 8, spreading, the filaments of unequal length, 2-3 mm long, sparsely woolly-pubescent to nearly glabrous, the anthers wide-elliptic, ca. 0.5 mm long, shortly apiculate or nearly retuse; ovary conical, glabrous, the stigma trilobed, sometimes sparsely pubescent. Fruit ellipsoid, apiculate, 1.8-2 cm long, glabrous, the pericarp coriaceous, granulose, ca. 0.7 mm thick; endocarp glabrous. Seed 1(2) per fruit, ellipsoid, with a thin fleshy testa. Embryo with cotyledons of similar size, lying transversely over each other. Melicoccus pedicellaris is easily distinguished by its cylindrical, elongated petiolules. The specific epithet seems to refer to the conspicuous pedicels.
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Common Names
Zwarte pintolokus
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Distribution
Surinam, French Guiana, and Brazil in non-flooded moist for- est, including transition rain forest-savanna, forest on clay, primary forest, disturbed forest, trailside, riverine forest on clayish soil, and virgin terra firme forest.
Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America|