Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Shrubs or treelets, 0.9–3.7 m tall.

Stems: Stems unbranched or sparingly branched, 0.7–1.1 cm diameter at apex, glabrous, pith chambered, latex white.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Blades narrowly elliptic or oblanceolate, 11.5– 24.5 x 2.8-5.5 cm. Apex obtuse or acute. Base cuneate. Upper surfaces light green, glabrous; lower surfaces whitish greene pubescent along the midrib or nearly glabrous. Margins crenulate. Petioles 2.5–11 cm long, 1.2–2.5 mm diam. 1/5–1⁄2 as long as the lamina, glabrous. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in racemes 9– to 30–flowered; peduncle ascending when short, decurved when long, 20–75 mm long, 0.8–1.2 mm diam. glabrous; rachis 8 10 mm long, glabrous; bracts triangular or deltatee 0.7–1.4 x 0.7–1 mm, pubescent, deciduous subtending the pedicels, acute or acuminate at apex. Flowers bisexual (perfect); pedicels ascending, 9–14 mm long, 0.3–0.6 mm diam. glabrous, bibracteolate at a point ⅓–1⁄2 the distance above the base; bracteoles linear, 0.5–0.8 x 0.1–0.2 mm, pubescent, acuminate at apex. Hypanthium broadly ellipsoid or hemispherical, 3–5 mm long, 3–4.7 mm diameter, 1/7–1/5 as long as the corolla, glabrous. Calyx lobes triangular or deltate, 0.3–0.8 x 0.3–0.4 mm, pubescent, acuminate at apex. Corolla white tinged with purple at base, or more heavily striped or suffused with dark purple, 25–31 mm long, glabrous; corolla tube suberect, 13–19 mm long, 3.5–4 mm diam. at base, gradually narrowing to 2–2.5 mm diam. at middle, then increasing to 2.8–4.5 mm diameter at mouth; dorsal corolla lobes linear triangular, 10–14 x 1–1.3 mm, 1⁄2 as long to a little longer than the tube, acuminate at apex; ventral corolla lobes linear triangular, 8–11 x 0.9–1.2 mm, connate at base for 24.5 mm, acuminate at apex; staminal column exserted, emerging from the corolla above or between the dorsal lobes. Stamens 5, alternate with corolla lobes, connate; filament tube slightly downcurved, 18–21 mm long, 0.8–1.2 mm diam. glabrous; anther tube slightly downcurved, 1.7–2.2 mm diam. the surfaces glabrous; dorsal anthers 7–8 mm long, ⅓–⅖ as long as the filament tube; ventral anthers 5–6.5 mm long, with tufts of hairs 1.2–2.2 mm long at apex. Ovary inferior, 2-celled; ovule placentation axile; stigma 2-lobed, wet or dry, appressed and nonreceptive as the style grows through the anther tube, pushing out the pollen, after which the stigmas spread apart and become receptive.

Fruit: Berries purple; globose; 6–8 mm long; 6–8 mm diameter. Seeds numerous; orangish brown; ellipsoid; 0.8–1 mm long; 0.5–0.7 mm diam. the seed coat minutely papillose (Type F; Buss et al. 2001); shining.

Ploidy:

Habitat: Mesic forest.

Elevation Range: 165–640 m.