Macairea stylosa Triana

  • Authority

    Renner, Susanne S. 1989. Systematic studies in the Melastomataceae Bellucia, Loreya and Macairea. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 50: 1-112.

  • Family

    Melastomataceae

  • Scientific Name

    Macairea stylosa Triana

  • Description

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    Species Description - Shrub or treelet, 1-3(-5) m tall; branchlets glabrous. Leaves narrowly elliptic, 3-12 x 1-2.5 cm, apically rounded, cuneate or angustate at base, 5-pli-nerved, the inner pair of lateral primaries arising ca. 4 mm above the blade base, the outer pair close to the margin and inconspicuous, above glabrous and smooth, the midvein and lateral primary veins with few short glandular hairs below, the areoles with minute, few-branched, papillae-like hairs; petioles 0.1-0.4 cm long. Inflorescence 3-5-flowered paniculate cymes in the axils of the uppermost vegetative leaves; peduncle glabrous. Flowers with pedicels 10-17 mm long; hypanthium 4.7-5.2 x 2.5 mm; calyx lobes subulate, 3-5 mm long; petals white or pink, 11-13 x 9-11 mm; filaments 6-8 or 3.8-4.2 mm long, ventrally with shortstalked glands; thecae 4(-6) mm long, the connective prolonged and expanded dorsi-basally; ovary apically with glandular hairs, 4-locular. Fruit capsular. Seeds ca. 1 mm long, subcochleate to polyhedric.

    Distribution and Ecology - Distribution and ecology (Fig. 37B): Macairea stylosa is endemic to the Orinoco-Rio Negro drainage where it grows in wet savannas and is sometimes completely inundated during the highwater season.

  • Discussion

    Type: Brazil. Amazonas: Casiquiare, Vasiva, and Pacimoni rivers, 1853-1854 (fr), Spruce 3195 (holotype: K!, photo H. A. Gleason s.n.!; isotypes: BM!, BR!, G!, G-DC!, GOET!, LE!, RB!, W!). Figs. 23D, 24C, 26D-F. Macairea stylosa is illustrated in Cogniaux (1858, pl. 59, fig. 2). In almost all the specimens I have seen, the hypanthia were greatly enlarged due to infestation by the larvae of a gall-causing insect.