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(Last Modified On 7/8/2013)
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(Last Modified On 7/8/2013)
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Species
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Noronhia emarginata (Lam.) Stadman
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PlaceOfPublication
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Thouars, Gen. Nov. Madag. 8. 1804.
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Synonym
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Olea emarginata Lam., Tabl. Encycl. Meth. 1: 29, tab. 8, fig. 2a, 2b. 1791. TYPE: Madagas- car, Martin (not seen).
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Description
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Trees to 15 m tall, bark smooth; branches stout, terete, the terminal twigs flat- tened. Leaves elliptical or obovate, to 16 cm long, 10 cm wide, entire or emar- ginate, mucronulate, basally narrowed or obtuse, above blue green with con- trasting pinnate veins which anastomose to form a continuous vein ca. 5 mm from the revolute margin, beneath yellow green, minutely punctate, the lateral vena- tion obscure; petiole stout, ca. 5 mm thick, 10-15 mm long, light brown and con- trasting with the color of the leaves and stems. Inflorescences small racemes or panicles to 8 cm long, lateral on horizontal or descending twigs; pedicels and peduncle stout, green, subtended by minute deltoid or obtuse, deciduous bracts; pedicels 7-15 mm long, the base of the flower with 2 opposite, minute, appressed bracteoles. Flowers self-fertile, 4-merous; calyx lobes similar, obtuse, ciliolate, ca. 1.5 mm long; corolla yellow, drying dark, thick and fleshy, the tube obscure, the limb lobed over halfway, the limb and lobes cuculate, globose, 6-7 mm across, the interior base flat and the coronule scarcely evident; stamens subsessile, in- serted on the corolla tube, the anthers green, becoming dark brown after anthesis, dorsiventrally compressed, appressed to the ovary, broadly elliptical with a strong lateral sulcus, ca. 2 mm long, opening laterally; ovary green, conical, 2-3 mm long, smooth, glabrous, 2-locular with 2 ovules in each locule, the stigma white, glisten- ing, 2-lobed, sessile on the ovary apex, the stigma and anther tips at the same level just above the floor of the corolla. Fruits globose to turbinate, apiculate, ca. 20 mm long, drying hard, dark brown, slightly rough; seed pyriform, dark rus- set, 10-12 mm long, only partly filling the abortive locule, the cotyledons unequal.
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Habit
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Trees
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Distribution
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This species is occasionally cultivated throughout the lowland tropics as a street or specimen tree.
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Note
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The fruit is said to be edible, and the wood hard. The gray green, coriaceous, Clusia-like leaves give it a distinctive appearance. The small, yellow flowers are usually borne near the ends of curved, horizontal or descending twigs. Noronhia emarginata is native to Madagascar.
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Specimen
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CANAL ZONE: Summit Garden, Croat 13822 (MO).
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Project Name
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