Paullinia leiocarpa

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Paullinia leiocarpa

Description

Woody vine to 5 m long, usually many-branched from base. Stems obtusely 3-5-angled, flavo-pubescent or pilose, glabrescent with age, < 1 cm in diameter, not producing milky latex; cross section with a central, large vascular cylinder and 2 or 3 peripheral smaller vascular cylinders. Stipules oblong, 10-12 mm long, pilose. Leaves pinnately 5-foliolate; petiole and rachis broadly winged; petiolules 1-2 mm long; leaflets chartaceous or membranous, adaxially sparsely pubescent, especially along the midvein, abaxially softly pubescent, especially on veins, with a tuft of hairs in the axils of the secondary veins, 4-15.5 × 2-7 cm (the distal leaflet larger), the apex acute, the margins remotely serrate; distal leaflets oblanceolate, with cuneate base; lateral leaflets oblong, ovate to nearly oblanceolate, sometimes asymmetrical, the base obtuse or acute, tertiary venation reticulate. Thyrses axillary, spicate, solitary, with pubescent axis; bracteoles subulate, pubescent, 3-10 mm long; cincinni sessile, few-flowered. Calyx yellowish green, minutely pubescent, with 5 sepals, outer sepals ovate, ca. 2.5 mm long, inner sepals oblong, 4-5 mm long; petals white (hyaline in dry collections), obovate, 4-5 mm long; appendages slightly shorter than the petals, thin, with yellowfleshy crest at apex, and ciliate margins; disc of 4oblong-ovoid lobes; torus pilose; filaments appressed-pubescent; ovary sericeous. Capsule globose or globose-trigonous, unwinged, shortly stipitate (stipe 2-3 mm long), red, turning brown with age, woody-crustose, 2-2.3 cm long, softly pubescent but glabrescent with age; mesocarp ca. 2 mm thick; endocarp papery. Seed dark brown, shiny, 2-3 per fruit, 10-12 mm long, ellipsoid, with white, bilobed sarcotesta on lower ½.

Distribution

Guyana present, Southern America: Brazil North (Amazonas present, Roraima present); Venezuela (Venezuela present), Trinidad Is present, lowlands of Colombia present
Known from the lowlands of Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad Is., Guyana, and the Brazilian states of Roraima and Amazonas.

Wood

Woody vine , usually many-branched from base.1
1. 001