Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Trees to 10 m.

Stems: Young branches prickly with densely stellate pubescence, often with scattered, reddish to yellowish, spreading, simple, spinescent, pustular–based hairs.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Leaves heteroblastic. The leaves at midpoint ovate or 3-5-lobed, 5-14 cm long X 4.5-12 cm wide. The leaves at upper plant: leaves bract-like and oblanceolate, to 20 X 5 mm long or shallowly lanceolate to ovate to 3-5-lobed, 15-60 mm long X 8-80 mm wide. Leaves at mid-plant: apex acute to obtuse. Leaves at upper plant: bract-like and oblanceolate leaves with apex acute, lanceolate to ovate leaves with acute to obtuse apex. Base truncate to cordate (at mid-plant). Leaves at upper plant: bract-like and oblanceolate with a cuneate base. Nectary apparently absent on lower and upper leaves, present or absent on leaves at mid-plant. Margins serrate to dentate: leaves near base of the plant not seen. Leaves at upper plant: bract-like and oblanceolate leaves with serrate margin. Petiolate; leaves at mid-plant: petioles 3-8.5 cm long, sparsely to densely fine stellate-pubescent, or sometimes with a few coarse stellate hairs. Leaves at upper plant: petioles 0.8-9 cm long, pubescent like those at mid-plant. Stipules filiform, 3–15 mm long, sparsely to densely fine stellate-pubescent.

Flowers: Flowers solitary, axillary, or sometimes clustered near the apex; peduncles peduncles 2-5 mm in bud, elongating to 13-15 mm in fruit, articulating at the base, densely fine stellate-pubescent and with shiny, pustular-based hairs to 2 mm long; involucellar bracteoles 7-11 in number, linear to narrowly subulate, rounded or flattened, 9-25 mm long, pubescent like peduncles, the apex entire. Flowers bisexual (perfect). Calyx to 35 (40) mm long in fruit, the lobes long-acuminate at the apex, sparsely to densely fine stellate-pubescent, or sometimes with appressed or matted. shiny, simple (or sometimes 2-forked) pustuliferous hairs, the midrib and marginal ribs green-brown (or brown in mature fruits) or conspicuously red-purplethe nectary absent. Corolla yellow, each petal with a small to large red, brownish, or purple basal spot, the petals obovate. 3.5-4.5 cm long x 2-4 cm wide, ventrally glabrous, dorsally sparsely fine stellate-pUbescent, or sometimes with a few straight hairs. Stamens 5 to numerous, monadelphous, forming a staminal column; staminal column included or exerted, 20-40 mm long, red,-red-brown, or red-purple below, cream or tan-yellow above, the filaments 0.5-3 mm, the anthers monothecal, yellow-tan or red-purple. Pollen globose, echinate, cream, tan, brown, orange or red. Ovary superior, placentation axile; ovules 3 or more per cell; style branches exserted to 5 mm beyond the staminal column.

Fruit: Loculicidally dehiscent capsules 12-20 mm long X 12-17 mm in diam.; glabrous (?) or sparsely to densely appressed-pubescent; the beak 1-3 mm long; glabrous. Seeds 3-5 mm long X 2-3 mm wide; angular-reniform; light brown to brown with honeycombed markings and pectinate scales; the funiculus small; inconspicuous; light- to dark-brown; sometimes with a fringe of hairs.

Ploidy: 2n = 72*

Habitat: Rare in dry forest and shrubland.

Elevation Range: 0–370 m.