Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Trees 5–14 m tall, young parts sparsely brown pilose, the hairs somewhat appressed.

Stems: Branches glabrous.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Blades narrowly elliptic–ovate to ovate, 5–15 cm long, 2–4 cm wide. Apex acuminate. Base cuneate to attenuate. Surfaces glabrous or pilose in very immature leaves; blades chartaceous. Margins undulate. Petioles 1.5–3.5 cm long. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in inflorescences sparsely brown pilose, the hairs somewhat appressed. peduncles 10–32 mm long, pedicels 8–15 mm long, bracts subulate, 6–8 mm long. Flowers bisexual (perfect), ca. 5–10 in terminal, branched, corymbose racemes. Calyx of 5 sepals, narrowly lanceolate, 6–9 mm long, pilose, especially along margins, apex long–attenuate. Corolla of 5 petals, white, 9–13 mm long. Stamens 5, alternate with the petals, distinct. Ovary superior, 2-carpellate, 2–3-celled, on a short gynophore, placentation parietal; ovules numerous, in 2 rows per placenta; style 1; stigma capitate.

Fruit: Capsules depressed–subglobose; slightly compressed; ca. 10–14 mm long; the persistent style ca. 2–3 mm long; the valves with coriaceous exocarp ca. 1–2 mm thick; the surface roughened–rugulose. Seeds ca. 25; dark brown; angled and compressed; ca. 3 mm long.

Ploidy: 2n = 24

Habitat: Disturbed mesic forest.

Elevation Range: 500–1,200 m.