Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Shrubs or small trees up to 8(–10) m tall.

Stems: Mature stems glabrous to glabrate, young stems, petioles, and calyces glabrate.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Blades ovate–elliptic to broadly ovate, usually 4–10 cm long, 2–11(–25) cm wide. Apex acute to subacuminate. Base obtuse to subcordate or cuneate. Upper surfaces glabrous or glabrate; lower surfaces glabrate; blades coriaceous. Margins entire or dentate throughout or near apex. Petioles usually less than ½ the length of blades; sometimes copiously yellowish stellate pubescent. Stipules subulate to filiform, 5–10 mm long, caducous.

Flowers: Flowers solitary, borne near the ends of the branches, pedicels stout, 1.5–6(–9) cm long, articulate, pedicels glabrate; involucral bracts 5–7, reflexed, linear-lanceolate to narrowly oblong, 5–8(–10) mm long, 1–2 mm wide, distinct or connate basally or adnate to calyx at base. Flowers bisexual (perfect). Calyx tubular, 1.5–2.8 cm long, lobes deltate–acute, 3–10 mm long, glabrate. Corolla actinomorphic to moderately zygomorphic, corolla of 5 petals, flaring, white, occasionally with a pink tinge on abaxial side, sometimes aging pinkish, (5–) 6–8(–10) cm long from point of insertion, distinct from each other but adnate basally to the staminal column into a tube 1–3(–4) cm long, convolute in bud, lower surface usually densely pubescent. Stamens 5 to numerous, monadelphous, forming a staminal column, exserted, pinkish to dark red, rarely white, 8–19 cm long; filaments arising in upper ⅓–½ of staminal column, red or white, spreading, 0.8–3 cm long; anthers monothecal. Pollen globose, echinate. Ovary superior, 5-celled or rarely appearing 10-celled by a vertical partition, the carpels borne in a single whorl or rarely seemingly superposed whorls, placentation axile; ovules 3 or more per cell; style exceeding the staminal column, 5-branched, each branch terminated by an expanded stigma.

Fruit: Loculicidally dehiscent capsules; chartaceous; obovoid–apiculate; ca. 1.7–2.5 cm long; glabrous; endocarp smooth; shiny; exocarp reticulate–veined. Seeds angular-reniform or rounded-reniform; ca. 4 mm long; yellowish brown tomentose; with or without endosperm.

Ploidy: 2n = 80*; 84*

Habitat: Occurring in primarily mesic to wet forest;.

Elevation Range: 120–790 m.