Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Trees up to 3 m tall.

Stems: Young branches dark brown, smooth, glabrous or appressed pubescent, older branches with a gray corky layer.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Blades variable in size, 6–15 cm long, 3–6(–7) cm wide. Apex rounded to acute. Base rounded. Blades coriaceous, midrib broad, yellow, usually glabrous. Margins entire. Both surfaces with fine reticulate venation. Petiolate. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers few in axillary, strigose or pubescent inflorescences much shorter than leaves, inflorescence branches 2.0 – 4.0 cm long. Flowers bisexual (perfect), yellowish brown or gray pubescent, 3.5 – 4.0 mm long, actinomorphic. Tepals 6, equal, usually arranged in whorls of 3, ca. 1.5 mm long, rather densely pubescent, usually white, greenish white, or yellow, rarely reddish. Fertile stamens 9, outer 6 introrse, inner 3 extrorse and with basal glands, staminodia present; filaments of Stamens of third whorl often with 2 stalked or sessile glands at base; anthers dithecal, opening by valves or small pores. Ovary superior, 1-celled; ovule 1, anatropous.

Fruit: Mature fruit black; subglobose to spherical; 2.6 – 3.1 cm diameter by 3.1 – 3.7 cm long; no umbo (narrow blunt projection) present at terminal end; ribs on mature fruit absent. Seeds without endosperm.

Ploidy:

Habitat: Occurs in dry to mesic forest.

Elevation Range: 1219 m