Trichanthera gigantea

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Trichanthera gigantea

Description

Large shrub or tree, 5-25 m high. Branches quadrate, angles rounded, tips minutely brown-tomentose giving pale-buff appearance, older branches lenticellate, lenticels prominent, round, ca. 1 mm in diam.Petiole 1-5 cm long, channeled, glabrous or minutely pubescent; blade ovate to oblong, 13-26 x 6-14 cm, glabrous or nearly so on upper surface, somewhat glaucous, sparsely to moderately pubescent on lower surface on primary vein and secondary veins, apex acuminate, base attenuate, margin entire to undulate. Inflorescence a terminal, loosely branched, more or less secund panicle of 3-8 x 2-3 cm; peduncle and pedicel brown-tomentose; bracts and bracteoles triangular, 3 x 2 mm, brown-tomentose. Calyx 10-12 mm long, pale green, sometimes tinged purple, brown-tomentose, lobes 7-10 x 5 mm, apically rounded; corolla 30-40 mm long, yellowish and scarlet, glabrous proximally, silky-tomentose distally, glabrous within, tube 10-15 mm long, sometimes slightly swollen or curved, throat campanulate, limb 12-15 mm wide, lobes oblong to oblong-ovate, 8-10 x 3-6 mm; stamens exserted about 10 mm beyond tips of corolla lobes, filaments 25-27 mm long, pilose, anthers greenish-brown, 6 x 1.5-2 mm, bluntly apiculate apically, bearded along sutures; ovary tomentose, stigma lobe 2 mm long. Capsule 17-20 x 6-7 x 5-6 mm, silky pubescent with closely appressed trichomes, obtuse and minutely apiculate apically; seeds 3-4 mm in diam., glabrous.

Distribution

Guyana present, Southern America, Suriname present
Guyana, Suriname and Brazil; 29 collections studied (GU: 13; SU: 16).

Notes

In the Guianas only: var. guianensis Gleason.