Heisteria ovata
Content
Description
Glabrous shrub or tree, (2.5-)6-20(-25) m tall; trunk (4-)10-40 cm diam.Branchlets subangular, striate, dark red or purplish in dry specimens, slender, older parts densely lenticellate and covered with a peeling brown cork. Petioles (4-)6-10(-17) x 1-1.5(-2) mm; blades subcoriaceous, shiny above, variable in shape and size, ovate to elliptic-oblong, or occasionally ovate-lanceolate, (5-) 6-12(-19) x 2.5-6(-8) cm, apex shortly-, rarely long-attenuate or subacuminate, tip subacute or blunt, base attenuate to obtuse or rounded, subinequilateral, primary vein flattened or slightly impressed above, prominent beneath, secondary veins (5-) 6-8(-12) pairs, rather straight below, otherwise moderately curved-ascending, flattened above, slightly prominent beneath. Flowers few to rather numerous (-20) per axillary fasciclefrom small multibracteolate cushions; pedicels slender, (2-)3(-5) mm long. Calyx cup-shaped, ca. 1 mm long, acutely 5-lobed halfway; petals ovate-lanceolate, white, yellowish, or greenish, acute, hairy at middle of adaxial surface, 1.5(-2) mm long; stamens 10. Drupe subovoid-ellipsoid to ellipsoid-oblongoid, sometimes subglobose, apiculate, slightly striate lengthwise, (6-)8-10 x (4-)5-7 mm, yellowish or pale reddish; fruit-calyx red to pale crimson, erect or mostly spreading, 5-lobed about halfway, (8-)10-20(-25) mm when expanded, lobes ovate-deltoid, obtuse; fruiting peduncle slender, 4-6(-10) mm long.
Distribution
E Peru present, Guianas present present present, Southern America: Bolivia (Bolivia present); Colombia (Colombia present); Venezuela (Venezuela present)
Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, E Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia; rare in the Guianas. Over 100 specimens studied, 8 from the Guianas (GU: 3; SU: 4; FG: 1).