Mouriri crassifolia Sagot

Authority

Morley, Thomas. 1976. Melastomataceae tribe Memecyleae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 15: 1-295. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family

Melastomataceae

Scientific Name

Mouriri crassifolia Sagot

Type

Type. M. Melinon sn (holotype, P; isotypes, P). French Guiana, Maroni. In flower; no date. The sheet selected for the type bears handwriting resembling in many respects that of Sagot. The number  78 has been added to the label by a different hand at a later date, and may refer to the date and specimen was received, as 1878. Many Melinon specimens of M. crassifolia exist but it seems impossible to tell if some, all, or none of them are actually of the same collection as the type.

Synonyms

Mouriri anomala Pulle

Description

Description - Glabrous tree, mostly less than 20 m tall with a trunk less than 30 cm in diameter, up to 29 m tall with a trunk 46 cm thick, the trunk reported once (William 18258) to be 1 m in diam; young twigs terete or 4-ridged or sometimes in saplings 4-winged; trunk round, straight; bark of trunk thin, shallowly fissured, light reddish-brown, shredding easily, becoming gray, blackish-gray, or blackish-brown externally in age; live inner bark thin, yellow, soft, succulent; wood hard, reddish-brown, with slight pungent fragrance, exuding a white sap at center of trunk when cut, not the usual sap. Leaves dimorphic, those of leader shoots shorter and relatively broad, those of dorsiventral shoots longer and narrower in proportion; leaves coriaceous, medium to dark green above, shiny, paler beneath; petioles 0-3.0 mm long; blades of dorsiventral shoots 7.2-19.0 cm long, 2.5-6.4 cm wide, elliptic-oblong or narrowly so or these slightly ovate, very abruptly acute or acuminate at the apex, rounded to broadly acute at base or seldom acute with an included angle of 70°, the earlier leaves of seedlings acute at base, the later ones typical, blades sometimes abruptly attenuate at base; midrib grooved above, prominent below, rounded at base, becoming 2-angled ¼-2/3 of the way toward the apex or rarely very narrowly 2-winged; lateral nerves invisible above and below when dry, sometimes very slightly raised when fresh. Margins of midrib xylem turned in and down, sometimes fused edge to edge in the lower half making a depressed-tubular structure, other times the margins separate for their full length; stomatal crypts a highly modified Type II, averaging in a leaf ca 30-34 µ in diam, 58-80 µ high, 90-150 per sq mm (extremes 23-46 µ diam, 54-85 µ high, 75-175 per sq mm); upper epidermis two cells thick, the outer cells smaller than the inner; mucilaginous walls none; hypodermis none; free cortical stone cells extending along midvein not over 1 cm from the node; terminal sclereids filiform, extending from epidermis to epidermis, turning at the epidermises and running next to them before ending, no branching. Inflorescences, all or mostly axillary, sometimes also at leafless nodes of twigs up to 6.0 mm thick, 1 per side, each 1-5-flowered, 12.0-37.0 mm long to base of farthest pedicel measured along the axes and with 2 or 3 internodes in that length; bracts 2.5-6.0 mm long, triangular to ovate-triangular, acute or sometimes abruptly acute or rounded at the apex, deciduous by anthesis. True pedicels green, 1.0-4.0 mm long; calyx lobes green, ovary yellow, calyx including inferior ovary 3.4-7.0 mm long measured along the surface, broadly campanulate or cup-shaped; free hypanthium none; calyx lobes 1.4-3.0 mm long, 3.0-5.5 mm wide, 1.4-3.0 mm long from stamen attachment, broadly rounded to truncate, the calyx not splitting between the lobes at anthesis, the lobes apparently enlarging during fruit formation. Petals typically rose-orange above and sulfur-yellow below, varying to orange, pale orange, yellow, or cream, 10.0-13.0 mm long and 5.0-8.5 mm wide when dry, to 14.5 mm by 9.5 mm when fresh, obovate-spatulate to obovate to obovate-elliptic, acute to broadly acute or nearly rounded at the apex, narrowed to a broad claw or sessile at base, both surfaces densely papillose. Filaments white or whitish, the antesepalous ones 3.5-5.5 mm long, the antepetalous ones 5.0-6.5 mm long; anthers blue to violet or violet extrorsely and reddish introrsely at anthesis or white beneath and lilac above, 2.5-3.5 mm long, 2.0-2.6 mm wide; sporangia horseshoe-shaped, curved over the apex of the anther, extending 1.9-2.6 mm on the gland side, 1.6-2.2 mm on the opposite side, dehiscing by lengthwise slits; gland 0.4-0.6 mm long, situated near the upper or caudal end of the anther; anthers tilted up 90° or less on the filament at anthesis, the side which is adaxial before anthesis being brought up to no more than a horizontal position. Ovary 5-locular; placentae basal in each locule, the ovules borne on all sides of a short basal column, 6-9 per placenta, 30-38 in all; style white to cream, 12.0-14.0 mm long. Fruit edible, yellow to red, subglobose to slightly depressed-globose, crowned with the persistent calyx, 11.5-15.0 mm high excluding calyx and 11.0-18.0 mm thick when dry, estimated 14-21 mm high and 14-23 mm thick when fresh. Seeds (l-)2-6, light to medium brown, polished, irregularly obovoid with the thick end up, 6.5-10.0 mm high, 4.8-6.0 mm wide, 3.3-6.0 mm thick, with a lateral flattish elliptic hilum 5.5-9.0 mm long by 2.8-4.0 mm wide occupying most of one side of the seed.

Discussion

The wood has been used for construction at least in Surinam.

Common Names

Spijkerhout, spykerhout, Topi, spikri-oedoe, spikie-hoedoe, komotoli, kammotolie, Amerau, Bois de fer, bois-fleche, chipayeopo, Topi, Camutim, Miraúba, mereuba

Distribution

Surinam, French Guiana, and Amapá and northeast Pará in Brazil. Primary forest above flood level, mostly below 100 m elevation, to 250 m in southern French Guiana; soil sandy or sand and clay.

Suriname South America| French Guiana South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America|