Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Shrubs or small trees 3–8 m tall, new growth minutely grayish to yellowish brown puberulent and scurfy, becoming glabrate; branches sprawling.

Stems:

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Opposite. Blades oblong–elliptic, elliptic–ovate, or elliptic, 7–20 cm long, 3–9 cm wide. Apex bluntly acuminate to rounded, ± minutely mucronate or emarginate. Base broadly or sometimes narrowly cuneate, sometimes subtruncate or rounded. Surfaces glabrous; thin, chartaceous to coriaceous. Margins entire, flat or sometimes strongly revolute. Primary lateral veins usually 7–10 pairs, conspicuous on both surfaces, paler green than blade, ascending, connected by a deeply arched vein 3–10 mm from margin, higher order venation forming a prominent reticulate pattern when dry, venation pinnate, lateral veins connected by an arched submarginal vein, higher order venation forming a reticulate pattern. Petioles 7–40(–50) mm long. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers 1–3 in sparsely minutely puberulent, axillary cymes, peduncles 3–10 mm long, pedicels 3–6 mm long, bracteoles deltate, up to 1 mm long, bracts small, opposite. Flowers bisexual (perfect) or functionally unisexual (and then plants monoecious). Calyx of 4 sepals; sepals imbricate, staminate flowers with sepals broadly ovate, 2–2.2 mm long, glabrous or sparsely minutely ciliate, pistillate flowers with sepals whitish green, broadly ovate, 1–1.5 mm long, glabrous or sparsely minutely ciliate, apex acute. Corolla of 4 petals, staminate flowers petals deltate, 3.5–4.2 mm long, glabrous, pistillate flowers petals deltate, 2–3 mm long, glabrous, nectary disk white, glabrous. Stamens 8, in 2 whorls, distinct, reduced but always present in functionally pistillate flowers, pistillate flowers Stamens rudimentary. Ovary superior (pistillate flowers), 4-celled and 4-lobed, carpels connate, only slightly distinct at apex to almost entirely distinct , glabrous; ovules 2 per cell, hemitropous, 1 ascending; style 1, ca. 1 mm long, terminating in 4 short stigmatic branches; staminate flowers ovary rudimentary; style ca. 0.5 mm long.

Fruit: Follicles; 20–28 mm wide; of 4 distinct; carpels each 10–14 mm long; dehiscing along the upper suture; exocarp and endocarp glabrous; carpels exocarp. Seeds 1–2 per follicle; 4–8 mm long; glossy; black when ripe; crustaceous; ovoid; sometimes angled from compression; embryo straight in fleshy endosperm; radicle short; cotyledons compressed; ovate; putamen brown; warty.

Ploidy:

Habitat: Occurring in mesic forest and perhaps sometimes wet forest.

Elevation Range: 550–1,070 m.