Pentascyphus

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Pentascyphus

Description

Trees or shrubs. Stipules wanting. Leaves alternate, paripinnate; leaflets alternate, entire; distal leaflet rudimentary. Inflorescences distal or axillary thyrses. Flowers actinomorphic, bisexual or functionally unisexual; sepals 5, equal, free, imbricate; petals 5, with an adnate appendage forming a pocket, for most of its length, the whole structure with 2 short marginal projections; disc pentagonal, sericeous, 7-8-lobed; stamens 8, of equal length; pollen syncolporate or parasyncolporate, rugulate; ovary 3-carpellate, hirsute, with a single ovule per carpel. Fruit a trilocular, trilobed capsule.

Distribution

Guianas present, Southern America: Brazil North (Amazonas present, Pará present); Brazil Northeast (Maranhao present)
A single species occurring in the Guianas and Brazil (Amazonas, Maranhão, and Pará).

Notes

Pentascyphus is indistinguishable from Cupania except by its petal appendage (simple and connate to the petal along its margins forming a pocket), and its leaflets with entire margins. Whether these features should warrant generic distinction or not is something to be tested by the aid of molecular tools. In the absence of molecular data, I differ to make any change on the taxonomic status of Pentascyphus.