Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Small trees up to 4 m tall, new growth densely puberulent.

Stems:

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Opposite. Blades ovate to elliptic–ovate, 8–16 cm long, 3.5–6.5 cm wide. Upper surfaces glabrous; lower surfaces densely puberulent when young, becoming sparsely minutely puberulent or glabrate; blades thin, coriaceous. Margins entire. Primary lateral veins usually 6–8(–10) pairs, connected by an arched vein 3–10 mm from margin, venation pinnate, lateral veins connected by an arched submarginal vein, higher order venation forming a reticulate pattern. Petioles 20–35 mm long. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers ca. 3–9 in axillary cymes, puberulent throughout, peduncles 6–15 mm long, pedicels 3–8 mm long. Floral details unknown. Calyx of 4 sepals, imbricate. Corolla of 4 petals. Stamens 8. Ovary superior, 4-celled and 4-lobed, carpels connate, only slightly distinct at apex to almost entirely distinct; ovules 2 per cell, hemitropous, 1 ascending; style 1, terminating in 4 short stigmatic branches.

Fruit: Fruit 24–28 mm wide; of distinct follicles 12–14 mm long; exocarp thin; glabrous; endocarp glabrous. the carpels dehiscing along the upper suture; exocarp. Seeds 1–2 per follicle; ca. 6 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: Mesic forests; dry shrublands

Elevation Range: 870 m.