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(Last Modified On 3/8/2013)
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(Last Modified On 3/8/2013)
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Species
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SLOANEA MEDUSULA K. Schum. & Pittier,
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PlaceOfPublication
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Repert. Sp. Nov. 13: 312. 1914.
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Synonym
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S. platyphylla Standley in Woodson & Schery, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 27: 318. 1940.
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Description
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Tree to ca 40 m high or shrub; trunk with small plank buttresses; twigs slender to robust, more or less striate to angled-sulcate, puberulent to lanate-pubescent. Leaves alternate; stipules 1.5-3.5 cm long, 4-12 mm wide, elliptical-obovate, scarcely naviculate, the base rounded, the apex obtuse to acuminate-acute, the margin undulate to, irregular, the adaxial surface glabrate to puberulent, the abaxial surface with glabrate to puberulent to densely pubescent midrib, the pubescence otherwide sparse; petioles 2-15 cm long, subterete, striate, glabrate to pubescent; blade 8.5-57 cm long, 3.5-31 cm wide, obovate to elliptical-obovate, chartaceous to coriaceous, the midrib and secondary veins subprominent, puberulent to pubescent above, prominent, glabrous to puberulent to pubescent beneath, the secondary veins 8-14, ascending, scarcely arcuate to arcuate, the base obtuse to rounded, the apex obtuse to acuminate-obtuse to acute. Inflorescences 4-18 cm long, the peduncles and pedicels puberulent to densely pubescent, the peduncles 3.5-15.5 cm long, often angled-striate, the pedicels 0.5-4 cm long, angled-striate, the bracts 0.5-1.5 cm long, 0.2-1.3 cm wide, lanceolate to obovate, subnaviculate, the apex acute to obtuse, the margin irregularly undulate to sparsely dentate, occa- sionally 3-lobed, pubescent overall, or, like the stipules, densely pubescent in the center, otherwide sparsely so. Flowers 0.7-1.8 cm long, 1-2 cm in diam; sepals 6-11, 3-10 mm long, 1-5 mm wide at the base, striate, deltoid to lanceolate, the apex obtuse to acute, occasionally bidentate, sparsely to densely pubescent without and within; stamens 4-6 mm long, the filaments 2-3 mm long, striate, enlarged upward to the anther-sacs, puberulent, the anthers 1-2 mm long, elliptical, short-puberulent, the connective prolonged into a short, sparsely puberulent awn; pistil 6-13 mm long, the ovary ca 2 mm long, 2-3 mm in diam, ovoid, 4- to 5-loculed, 4- to 5-rounded-angled, densely velutinous, the style 4-11 mm long, the basal 1/3 to 2/3 velutinous, the apex glabrous, scarcely or not parted, contorted or straight. Capsule reddish, to 4.5 cm long, subglobose (?), 4-valved, 1-seeded; valves to 7 mm thick, densely covered with rigid spines; spines to 3.5 cm long, tapering gradually to the apex, antrorsely puberulent; seeds ellipsoidal, almost covered by a reddish aril.
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Habit
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Tree
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Note
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Sloanea medusula is primarily a tree of undisturbed forests where it is one of the dominants in the canopy. It occasionally persists as a clump of shrubby basal sprouts after clearing.
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Distribution
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in rainforest from Guatemala through Central America to the Pacific coastal area of Colombia.
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Specimen
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CHIRIQUI: Volcan Barui, Stern & Chambers 65 (MO). COCLE: vic of El Valle, Allen 1810 (type S. platyphylla F, MO, NY, US).
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