Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Trees 3–4 m tall.

Stems: Bark medium brown, young branchlets light brown, glabrate, 3–6 mm wide in third internode, terminal branchlets yellowish brown tomentose with a waxy scurf.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Opposite, unifoliolate. Blades obovate to broadly elliptic, occasionally orbicular, 5–17.5 × 3.5–8.5 cm, coriaceous. Apex rounded, obtuse to acute, or emarginate. Base rounded to obtuse. Surfaces glabrous, occasionally glabrate along midrib of abaxial surface, young leaves glabrate to sparsely puberulent on lower surface. Margins entire. Secondary veins usually 7–10 pairs, connected by a moderately arched vein 2–11 mm from margin with higher order venation reticulate. Petioles shallowly canaliculate, 10–30 × 1–3 mm at middle, glabrate. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in inflorescence with 3–5 flowers in axillary cymes up to 3 cm long, peduncles 5–6.5 mm long, sparsely short–puberulent, bracteoles 1.5–3 mm long. Flowers bisexual (perfect), pedicles 5–8 mm, short–puberulent. Calyx of 4 sepals; sepals broadly ovate, tip short acuminate, externally sparsely short–puberulent, glabrous within, 3 × 2.5–2.8 mm, connate basally ¼ to ⅓ of length. Corolla of 4 petals; petals tinged purple, narrowly ovate, lanceolate, 6–8 × 2.5–3 mm, glabrous internally and externally, tips recurved, nectary disk with sparsely scattered hairs. Stamens 8; filaments glabrous, the antesepalous ones 5–7 mm long, antepetalous ones 4–5 mm long, all with pollen. Ovary superior, densely appressed short–sericeous; style ca. 1.7 mm long, with finely appressed hairs; stigma capitate, four lobed, glabrous.

Fruit: Capsules purple tinged when fresh; 4–9 × 40–52 mm; carpels connate basally for ca. 1/5 their length; narrowed into a strongly reflexed beak 10–15 mm long; exocarp glabrate with few hairs widely spaced over surface; endocarp sparsely to evenly puberulent. Seeds 2 per carpel; ovoid; 5–9 mm long.

Ploidy:

Habitat: Wet forest

Elevation Range: 760–770 m