Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Shrubs to trees 2-7 m tall.

Stems: One to many main stems, young stems sparsely pubescent to puberulent, juveniles with significantly more trichomes than mature individuals.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Opposite. Blades lanceolate, 20-56 x 8-25 mm. Apex acute or sometimes rounded. Base cuneate. Surfaces sparsely pilose or glabrous, midrib sparsely puberulent towards base, domatia present on abaxial surface in seconary vein axils. Margins entire. Petioles 5-12 mm long. Stipules deltate 2-3 mm long, connate 25-50% of their length, base puberulent to lanate with band of glabrous tis¬sue immediately below margin, margin lanate with a conspicuous apical colleter sometimes obscured by two marginal colleters.

Flowers: Flowers axillary; male inflorescences a 3-flowered cyme on an unbranched peduncle (3-)7-9(-17) mm long or sometimes trichotomously branched at base, with flowers terminal in groups of 3 on each branch, internodes 5-25 mm long, central branch up to twice as long; female inflorescense solitary, 3-7(-13) mm long or sometimes trichotomously branched at base with solitary flowers terminally occurring on lateral branches and central branch a 3-flowered cyme with sessile central flower, and two leateral flowers on short pedicels, internodes 5-25 mm long, central branch up to twice as long. Flowers insect-pollinated, unisexual, often heterostylous. Calyx of staminate flowers irregularly toothed, urceolate to campanulate in early development, becoming deeply split due to corolla growth, 2-4 mm long, sheathing basal 1/8-1/4 of the mature corolla, apex red-purple at maturity; female calyx irregularly toothed at margin, completely connate or nearly so, forming a cylindrical tube around the corolla or occasionally only ¼ connate, 1.5-3.5 mm long. Corolla of male flowers 5-6(-8)-merous, campanulate to widely funnelform, lobes 3 x 0.5 mm, stamens 5-6, inserted at base of corolla, filaments exserted to 7 mm, pendulous at maturity; female corolla 5-6-merous, narrowly funnelform to tubular, only lobes exserted beyond calyx, recurving 360 degrees at maturity, lobe apices often touching upper calyx near teeth, styles 2, divided to base, 3 cm long, ca. 0.5 mm diam; nectary disk uaully present. Stamens 4-5(-10), alternate with the corolla lobes, inserted at base of corolla tube; filaments long-exserted; anthers penduous, dithecal, opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary inferior, occasionally partly so, or very rarely superior, 2(-4)-celled; ovule 1 per cell, basal, anatropous; style as many as carpels, 2(-4)lobed, divided nearly to base, terminal, slender; stigmas lobed or capitate, long-exserted, papillose-hirsute, dry or occasionally wet.

Fruit: Fruit drupaceous; juicy; reddish-orange to lemony-yellow; sometimes with red to reddish-purple colored epidermal flecks; cordiform; tapering towards the base; 7-10 x 5-7 mm when dry; with central constriction (furrow) from base to apex present between two seeds; apex depressed between the two seeds; crowned with a conspicuous persistent calyx; drying brown. Seeds with well-developed oily endosperm; or endosperm occasionally scanty or absent; 2(-3 plano convex pyrenes; yellowish-white; 2.3-6.3 x 2.5-5.0 mm x 1.0-3.0 mm; seed operculum 0.5-2.1 mm long.

Ploidy:

Habitat: In native habitats; occurs in dry forest/shrubland habitat. It occurs primarily in open habitat receiving direct sunlight; and also observed in gulches and high elevation forests.

Elevation Range: 1,000–2,000 m.