Meriania macrophylla macrophylla

Description

The species of the genus Conostegia are shrubs or small trees. Only a few species, such as Conostegia volcanalis , can reach a height of up to 20 m. The young branches are (indistinct) quadrangular or rarely cylindrical. Extracts are missing. The simple undivided leaves are present. The herbaceous to almost leathery leaf blades are usually stalked, rarely nearly sitting, (2.5-) 5-25 (-36) cm long and usually egg-shaped to elliptical, rarely obstetrical, lanceolate or linear. They have 3-5 (-9) main nerves running in an arcuate manner toward the tip of the leaf, the lateral branching either directly from the base of the leaf or slightly above it from the middle rib. These main nerves are interconnected by lateral nerves. The spreading edge is serrated to wavy serrated or sawn. In some species, for example in Conostegia setosa , a pair of myrmy codies is present at or near the sphenoid base on the leaf top. These are elongated, bubble-shaped exuberances of the leaf blade, which contain ants . The branches and leaves are bare or differently hairy, often with star hairs . A pair of myrmy codons are present at or near the base of the sphenoid on the top of the leaf. These are elongated, bubble-shaped exuberances of the leaf blade, which contain ants . The branches and leaves are bare or differently hairy, often with star hairs . A pair of myrmy codons are present at or near the base of the sphenoid on the top of the leaf. These are elongated, bubble-shaped exuberances of the leaf blade, which contain ants . The branches and leaves are bare or differently hairy, often with star hairs . The mostly brownish, moderately dense wood has a fine surface structure. It is moderately hard, moderately hard and has a low shelf life.The inflorescences are terminal, mostly rich flowering, in some species up to 30 cm long panicles . Cover sheets are available. The most common, rarely undisturbed, zwitterige , radial-symmetrical flowers are 4-12-count. The flower buds are spherical, egg-shaped, ellipsoidal, pear-shaped or obovate-shaped. The usually thick-walled flower cup is cup-shaped, bell-shaped or hemispherical. The flower envelope and the stamens are inserted at the upper end of the flower cup on a vessel bundle ring. The calyx is fused into a tapered or hemispherical "calyptra", which, when blooming, separates from a circular seam and falls off completely like a lobule. By this characteristic , the Conostegia species are most easily distinguished from related genera. The free, White to pink, rarely also lavender-colored, bald, perverted petals are often somewhat asymmetrical and in the outline of the obstetrical to the tract. They are thickened against the ground and usually rounded or truncated at the tip, sometimes straightened, and even pointed at Conostegia cinnamomea . Regarding the flower size, the range of Conostegia cinnamomea with 3-3.5 mm long petals to Conostegia macrantha with 14-16 mm long petals. In each flower are 8-36 (-96) free, similar, bare stamens with thin stamens present. The two typically yellow counters each consist of two pollen bags. They are egg-shaped or oblong, Usually laterally compressed and open with a common pore, which is either at the tip or slightly displaced towards the center of the flower. The connective has neither an appendage nor an extension. The 4-25-fan fruit node is completely overgrown with the flower cup. Its mostly unhaired, slightly elevated point is often extended into a cone or collar, which surrounds the base of the single, columnar, bald stylus . The scar is copious or truncated, rarely punctiform, and forms, in some species, a broad-plate-shaped ring of laterally flattened lobes.The fruits are juicy berries , which, as far as they are known so far, are dyed in the mellow purple-black-purple or bluish-red color. The numerous invertebrate or irregularly pyramidal, weakly edged seeds are smooth or rarely rough. They do not contain an endosperm . All previously studied species, ie, Conostegia arborea , C. icosandra , C. montana , C. oerstediana , C. subcrustulata , C. superba, and C. xalapensis , coincide with each other in chromosome number. A haploid chromosome set with n = 17 or a diploid with 2n = 34 was determined. As a haploid basic number of the genus, x = 17.