Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Terrestrial or sometimes epiphytic, sprawling, liana-like shrubs, erect, branched shrubs, or sometimes shrubby trees 0.4–4.5 m tall.

Stems: Stems angled or slightly winged, glabrous or the uppermost moderately or sometimes densely short–hispidulous.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Opposite. Blades usually narrowly to broadly elliptic or oblanceolate, sometimes obovate, (3.5–)5–13.5 cm long, 1.8–5.5(–6) cm wide. Apex abruptly short-acuminate or acuminate. Base cuneate to broadly cuneate or sometimes rounded. Upper surfaces glabrous; lower surfaces glabrous or sparsely to sometimes moderately short–hispid, especially or exclusively on veins; leaves green on both surfaces or lower surfaces pale green. Margins flat or slightly revolute, at least when dry. Upper surface with veins slightly impressed, lower surface with veins not or moderately raised. Petioles 0–1.5(–2.2) cm long. Stipules interpetiolar, may also be intrapetiolar, membranous, connate into a cup 3–6 mm long, not or slightly adnate to base of petioles, glabrous, quickly splitting, often with thickened pale brown margins, eventually deciduous.

Flowers: Flowers in inflorescences terminal, flowers (2–)5–25(–30) in sessile or subsessile, simple or compound, contracted or relatively open cymes, glabrous to moderately or densely short–hispidulous, peduncles 0–3 mm long, pedicels 3–7 mm long, elongating to 5–18 mm long in fruit, bracts linear–filiform or sometimes narrowly elliptic, 6–9 mm long, bracteoles linear–filiform to filiform, 6–8 mm long, ± with a few scattered hairs. Flowers bisexual (perfect) or functionally unisexual, actinomorphic. Calyx lobes 5–6, unequal to subequal, united at base, ± imbricate, oblong–lanceolate to linear–lanceolate, sometimes narrowly elliptic with a constricted base, (4.5–)7–16 mm long, 1.6–3(–6) mm wide, perhaps enlarged only in fruit, conspicuously 5–7–nerved, glabrous or sometimes sparsely short–hispidulous, margins hyaline, glabrous or ciliate, apex acute to attenuate, inner surface of Calyx often with colleters at the base, margin mostly fimbriate. Corolla 5-merous, campanulate to rotate, orangish yellow, 11.3–22 mm long, the tube flaring toward mouth, 6.8–15 mm long, glabrous or sometimes sparsely short–hirsute, the lobes 5–6, narrowly deltate, 4.5–7.3 mm long, apex acute, moderately white hirsute on the tube within and on lower part of lobes, lobes imbricate or contorted in bud. Stamens 5 alternipetalous, attached to mouth of corolla, exserted, usually recurved after anthesis, glabrous or hairy; filaments mostly short; anthers 2-celled, introrse, connective often extended to form an apical appendage, opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary superior or partly inferior, carpels hairy or glabrous, 2– or 3-locular, sometimes partitions imperfect in upper part of ovary; ovules numerous, amphitropous, placentation axile; style terminal, mostly short; stigma clavate, ellipsoid, to globular, sometimes ± oblong, about as large as ovary.

Fruit: Capsules ovoid–ellipsoid to ellipsoid or sometimes broadly ovoid; 12–20 mm long; usually sparsely hirtellous; 2–3(4)–valved; valves usually conspicuously keeled in upper part; at least while maturing; keel 1.5–3.5 mm wide; apex with a beak 3.5–7 mm long; septicidal to sub–septifragal; maturing to green; with or without a black–purple tinge; usually becoming brown–black when over–mature. Seeds ca. 1 mm long; ± winged at both ends or all around; embedded in juicy orange to red pulp; numerous; ellipsoid to subglobular; intruded on the hilar side; surface mostly minutely papillose to areolate; brown to black; endosperm thick; fleshy; oily; proteinaceous; with saccharose or hemicellulose; embryo small; straight.

Ploidy:

Habitat: Scattered or locally common primarily in wet forest but extending to mesic forest or sometimes bog margins.

Elevation Range: 700–1,590 m.