Talisia squarrosa

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Talisia squarrosa

Description

Tree to 20-30 m tall; trunk reaching 30 cm in diam., buttressed at base; bark silvery gray, inner bark reddish brown. Branches terete, rough, lenticellate, glabrous. Leaves paripinnate; petiole 2-5.5 cm long, glabrous, flattened along adaxial surface, lenticellate; petiolules pulvinate, glabrous, 3-7 mm long, drying dark brown; leaflets 2, opposite, coriaceous, glabrous, dull, elliptic, 5.3-9(19) × 2.4-4.5(7.5) cm, the adaxial surface with prominulous venation, the abaxial surface with prominent primary and secondary veins, the apex obtuse or acute, the base acute or obtuse, asymmetrical; tertiary veins reticulate, prominulous. Thyrses panicle-shaped, to 27 cm long, distal or axillary on distal portion of branches; axes obtusely angled, sulcate, puberulent; bracts and bracteoles subulate, < 1 mm long, early deciduous; dichasia compound; peduncles 2-4 mm long, puberulent or minutely tomentose; pedicels 2-3 mm long, tomentulose, articulate at the middle. Calyx 3-4 mm long, tomentose, the sepals free to base, elliptic to ovate, concave; petals white, rhombo-elliptic or wide elliptic, 2.8-3 mm long, adaxially minutely papillate, abaxially appressed-pubescent on lower half, the base cuneate to nearly clawed, the apex obtuse; appendages as long as the petal, deltate, as wide as the petal or narrower, abaxially papillate, adaxially tomentose; disc cup-shaped, 5-lobed, minutely tomentose, 0.6-0.7 mm tall; stamens 8, the filaments glabrous, of unequal length, 1-2 mm long, the anthers ovate, obtuse at apex, 0.7-0.8 mm long; ovary conical, sericeous-tomentose, the stigma elongated, trigonous. Fruits (immature) ellipsoid or ovoid, sericeous-tomentose, the pericarp woody, smooth. Seed ellipsoid, with white juicy sarcotesta (fide Polak 1992).

Distribution

French Guiana present, Guyana present, Suriname present
Known from Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana (GU: 10; SU: 2; FG: 4).

Common Name

English (French Guiana): grigri, singabassou; English (Guyana): candlewood, karimora,, morabali, muro-balli, sand mora