Lysiostyles
Accepted name/Authority/Place of publication:
LYSIOSTYLES Benth., London J. Bot. 5: 356 (1846).
Tribe:
Maripeae
Type Species:
Lysiostyles scandens Benth., London J. Bot. 5: 356 (1846).
Habit:
Lianas reaching 30 m; stems 3.8 cm in diameter or larger; younger branches red pubescent, the older branches greyish to brownish, irregularly angled, glabrous, the bark somewhat scaly, the pith ± round in cross section, light brown.
Leaves:
Alternate, simple; petioles canaliculated, blades oblong to elliptic or obovate, 7.5-14 cm long and 5-10 cm wide, the base obtuse, the margins entire, the apex shortly acuminate, coriaceous, venation brochidodromus; glabrescent above, densely reddish pubescent below.
Inflorescences:
Axillary slender cylindric-thyrsiform, 2.5-8 cm long, often racemose below and cymose above, dichasia 2-5-flowered, the rachis and branches densely red pubescent; bracts triangular, densely red-pubescent.
Flowers:
Actinomorphic, sweet-scented; sepals broadly ovate to orbicular, the outer lobes acute, the inner lobes obtuse, about equal in length, red pubescent; corolla subrotate, white, the tube ca 2 mm long, glabrous, the lobes 4-6 mm long, triangular, acute, terminating in a long acuminate, almost filiform apex, the outside villous, the inside glabrous; stamens shortly exserted between corolla lobes, epipetalous, shorter than lobes of corolla, glabrous, filament ca 1 mm long, the bases triangular, connected into a ring, the anthers oblong, obtuse, flattened connective 1-1.5 mm long, the thecae on basal lobes of connective, ca ½ as long as connective, functionally extrorsely dehiscent; ovary depressed-globose, ca 1 mm long, ca 1 mm in diameter, incompletely bilocular with a partial septum in lower portion, villose, the ovules 4, the styles fused to completely free, ca 1 mm long, glabrous, the stigmas 2, capitates, spherical to short-cylindrical, white when living.
Pollen:
3-colpate, prolate.
Fruits:
Nut-like, woody, indehiscent, 1-locular, globose to oblong-globose, 2.5 cm long, 2.3 cm in diameter, the pericarp hard, the surface ruminate, buff-gray.
Seeds:
1 through abortion, ellipsoid to oblong-ellipsoid, 16-18 mm long, 14-15 mm in diameter, glabrous, surrounded by dark perisperm, the seed coat coriaceous, the albumen absent or scanty, the embryo with a radical folded against the lower part of the latiplicate incumbent cotyledons, ca 15 mm long.
Distribution:
Guiana Plateau region of South America. map
Countries:
Guyana
Surinam
Venezuela
Ecology:
Grows in rainforest, Mora forest, clump-Wallaba forest, mixed forests, from sea level to 200 m.
Common names and uses:
melocotón (Venezuela), perhaps comparing taste of fruit with peach.
Number of Species:
1
References:
Austin, D. F. Pollen et Spores 15:203-226. 1973.
Contributors:
