Horsfieldia triandra

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Horsfieldia triandra

Description

Low tree. Leaves membranous to thinly chartaceous, (elliptic-)oblong, 5-9 by 2-3.5 cm, base (short-)attenuate, apex acute-acuminate with acumen 8-12 mm long; Inflorescences with dense rusty hairs 0.3-0.4 mm; Fruits 1 or 2 per infructescence, broadly ellipsoid, 23-25 by 19-20 mm, drying blackish, glabrescent with remnants of minute indumentum of scattered hairs 0.1 mm or less towards the base;

Distribution

Asia-Tropical, C & S Sumatra present
Malesia:C & S Sumatra.

Taxonomy

1 The male bud deviates from most Horsfieldias by the obconical shape and the thick-leathery texture; it opens slightly only at the very apex, and the turbinate androecium, with at apex only 3 anthers, is clasped by the perianth lobes before anthesis.

The flowers look as if diseased, but on opening one finds the perianth and androecium normal. The few-flowered inflorescences, with some leaf-like enlarged bracts in the apical part, also look aberrant. Enlarged leaf-like bracts in the inflorescences are occasionally found in the inflorescences of some other species, e.g., in H. irya.
2 Horsfieldia sterilis from Borneo, H. pulverulenta and H. crux-melitensis (to a lesser extent), both from New Guinea, and related species from New Guinea have somewhat resembling male flowers, with thick-leathery perianth, similarly opening only at the apex, and a reduced number of anthers; however, all these species have a 2-lobed perianth.