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Annonaceae
Isolona cauliflora Verdc.
Nomenclature
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Tribe: MonodoreaeGenus: Isolona
SUMMARY
Tree up to 8 m high; d.b.h. to 10 cm; bark striate, smooth, grey to brown; young branches drying black covered with short erect hairs; old branches grey, generally glabrous, striate. Petioles 3-5 mm long, 1-1.5 mm in diameter, glabrous sparsely to densely covered with short erect hairs, leaf lamina inserted on top, narrowly grooved adaxially. Leaf lamina 12-23 cm long, 5-9 cm wide, length:width ratio 2-3, narrowly elliptic to elliptic or narrowly obovate to obovate, coriaceous, glabrous on both sides, dark green adaxially, lighter green abaxially, base rounded, apex acuminate, acumen 1-2 cm long; midrib raised and glabrous adaxially, prominent and glabrous abaxially; secondary veins 10-16(-18) pairs, glabrous. Inflorescences cauliflorous, multi-flowered; main flowering axis up to 2 m long, departing from the trunk and growing on forest floor; young parts green, fleshy, densely covered with short appressed hairs; old parts black, woody, glabrous. Flowering pedicels 12-33 mm long, 1-1.5 mm in diameter, densely covered with short appressed hairs, dark green to red. Lower bracts 2-6, ca. 1 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide, densely covered with short appressed hairs outside, glabrous to sparsely covered with short appressed hairs inside, larger lower bracts rarely present, ca. 5 cm long, ca. 4 cm wide, length:width ratio 1.25, broadly elliptic, glabrous, light green. Upper bract basal, 1-2 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, covered with short appressed hairs outside, glabrous to sparsely covered with short appressed hairs inside. Sepals 3-6 mm long, 2-4 mm wide, length:width ratio 1.-1.5, triangular, base truncate, apex acute to acuminate, densely coverd with short appressed hairs outside, glabrous inside, green, pressed against tube, persistent in fruit; margins coverd with short appressed hairs. Corolla light green when immature to light or dark red at anthesis; tube 4-6 mm long, 6-10 mm in diameter, lobe:tube ratio 2.5-6.5, covered with short appressed hairs, glabrous inside; lobes 13-32 mm long, 4-10 mm wide, length:width ratio 2.5-4.5, narrowly ovate to ovate, narrowed at base, apex acute, covered with short appressed hairs on both sides, coriaceous, three lobes spreading horizontally, the other three spreading vertically. Receptacle 3-5 mm in diameter. Stamens ca. 1.2 mm long; connective shields ca. 0.2 mm long, glabrous, those of innermost row stretched and pressing against ovary wall. Ovary ca. 2 mm long, ca. 2 mm wide; stigma 2.5-3 mm in diameter, very sparsely covered with erect hairs. Fruiting pedicels 23-30 mm long, 5-9 mm in diameter, glabrous, warty, dark red. Fruits sometimes buried in forest soil, 20-45 mm long, 20-43 mm in diameter, length:width ratio 1-1.5, broadly ovoid, irregular longitudinally 6(-7) ribbed, coarsely rugulose all over, apicule absent, sparsely covered with short erect hairs when immature, glabrous when mature, light to dark red or brown at maturity; pericarp 1-2 mm thick. Seeds 10-15 mm long, 5-7 mm in diameter, ellipsoid, packed in white pulp; testa smooth, light brown; raphe not thickened; hilum 4-5 mm long, 2-3 mm wide, broadly elliptical.