Mendoncia hoffmannseggiana

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Mendoncia hoffmannseggiana

Description

Suffrutescent vine. Stem subterete. Indument of branchlets, petioles and inflorescences pubescent with appressed or somewhat spreading yellowish-brown trichomes or older parts glabrescent. Petiole 0.5-2.5 cm long; blade rather thin, narrowly to broadly elliptic, 5-12 x 3.7-8 cm, abruptly acuminate at apex and terminating in an awn 2-4 mm long, acute to subacute at base and slightly decurrent on petiole, scabrous-hirsutulous above, yellowish-brown trichomes arising from stellate bases about 1 mm long, lower surface sparingly strigosebut not scabrous; primary and secondary veins appressed hirsute on both surfaces, prominent beneath. Flowers solitary or in pairs in each axil; pedicels slender, 4-7 cm long, densely yellowish-brown pilose, trichomes appressed or somewhat spreading; bracteoles narrowly oblong, subfalcate, 30-40 x 8-9 mm. Calyx, short, cupular, 0.75 mm long, membranous, glabrous; corolla red or purplish, lower part pale red or white, lower part of lobes pinkish-red, tubiform, 35-55 mm long, tube 45 mm long, 3 mm wide at base, gradually enlarged to 5 mm wide apically, lobes 5-6 x 3 mm, emarginate; stamens white; ovary finely puberulous, style finely puberulous below, glabrous above, 30 mm long. Fruit turning from green to dark purple to blackish, obliquely obovate, slightly compressed toward tip, 15 mm in diam., acute at apex and tipped by a part of persistent style, sparingly puberulous, succulent when ripe.

Distribution

Guianas present, Southern America: Brazil North (Acre present, Amapá present, Amazonas present, Pará present); Brazil Northeast (Maranhao present); Venezuela (Venezuela present), Trinidad present
Venezuela, Trinidad, the Guianas, and Brazil (Amazonas, Acre, Amapá, Pará, Maranhão); 108 collections studied of which 52 from the Guianas (GU: 19; SU: 11; FG: 22).

Phenology

Flowering and fruiting .