Roupala obtusata

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Roupala obtusata

Description

Tree 2-20 m tall, 10-50 cm diam.; branch bark light brown or grey superficially, dark red-grey or grey beneath, glabrous except rufous axillary buds of short, appressed hairs; lenticels numerous, minute. Leaves simple, or rarely with bisected midvein or extralaminal tissue as evidence of lobing, thinly coriaceous, drying pale green, green-brown or brown and usually shiny above, glabrous; petiole not well defined, (0.5-)1-2.5(-3) cm long, 1-2.5 mm broad at midlength, terete towards base, a scar often developing between branch and petiole (not stipular), smooth to slightly rugose, glabrous; blade predominantly narrowly oblong, lanceolate or elliptic, also oblong, oblanceolate, narrowly obovate or widely elliptic, 4.5-21 x 2-7 cm(length:breadth 1.5-5:1), base cuneate, more rarely acute or obtuse decurrent, symmetrical, apex obtuse to rounded, attenuate or acute, margin entire, revolute towards base of blade; venation raised on both surfaces, tertiary venation faint to obscure beneath, appearing eucamptodromous above, semicraspedodromous below, sometimes forming a double marginal vein, midvein reaching apex, secondary veins 5-9 pairs. Inflorescence axillary, rarely lateral, unbranched, 5-12(-17) x 1.5-3.5 cm, glabrous; peduncle 1-3 cm x 1-1.5 mm; sterile bracts few, persistent; common bracts 0.3-0.5(-0.7) x 0.3-0.6 mm, glabrous except for fimbriate margin and apex of orange- to red-brown hairs; flower-pair axis absent, rarely 0.5-1.5 mm long; pedicels 1-2.5(-4.5) x 0.5-0.8(-1) mm, glabrous. Flower buds 1-1.5 mm broad at apex, 0.5-1 mm broad at midlength, glabrous or occasionally with short, weak hairs. Flowers 6-12(-14) mm long; filaments 0-0.5 mm long, attached to tepals 4-9 mm from base, anthers 2-4.5 x 0.3-0.5 mm; hypogynous glands 0.3-0.5 mm long, closely appressed giving the appearance of a ring; ovary somewhat compressed longitudinally, hairs extending (0.7-)1-1.5(-2.5) mm from base of ovary, extending slightly lower on one side, very short, yellowish to light ferrugineous, close appressed, sometimes glabrous. Infructescence (5-)9-15 cm long, glabrous; fruit pedicels 2.5-6 x 1-1.5 mm, glabrous. Fruit 2.8-3.8 x 1.2-1.6 cm, both sides curved more or less equally, less commonly sutured side curved more strongly than unsutured side, base markedly constricted for (3-)5-7 mm, apex straight to curved to an angle perpendicular to unsutured side, constricted only 1-1.5 mm, style persistent forming sharp apex, surface conspicuously ridged, marginal vein generally protruding throughout periphery, beige to black, glabrous even when immature; seeds 2.1-2.4 x 1.2 cm.

Distribution

From 4° N of the equator in Amazonian Venezuela to 15° S in Mato Grosso, Brazil and between 56° and 67° W present, Guyana present
From 4° N of the equator in Amazonian Venezuela to 15° S in Mato Grosso, Brazil and between 56° and 67° W, and the unknown type locality in Guyana; (GU: 1).

Phenology

Flowering and fruiting .