Description:
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A shrub up to 4 m. high, sometimes a liane. Young branches indistinctly 4-gonous, becoming subcylindric, with dark-brown bark. Leaf-lamina 6–14 x 3·2–7 cm., narrowly ovate to broadly elliptic, acuminate at the apex, the acumen itself short (c. 0·5 cm. long), wide and ± obtuse or sometimes ± acute, narrowed or cuneate at the base, coriaceous, green or brown-green (when dried), longitudinally 3-nerved (sometimes 5-nerved but if so, then the external pair thinner, close to the margin and arched between the transverse venules), the nerves impressed on the upper face, raised below; lateral longitudinal nerves arched between the insertions with the transverse ones towards the distal 1/3; petiole up to 1 cm. long. Cymes (l)2-flowered, arranged in axillary panicles up to 5 cm. long; inflorescence-axis up to 3 cm. long, 4-gonous; peduncle 2–5 mm. long; pedicels very short. Petals 2 x 1·25 mm., obovate, clawed. Receptacle c. 2 x 1·5 mm., broadly campanulate; lobes 0·5–1 mm. long, truncate. Ovules 2. Fruit (immature) globose, black.
From FZ, Vol 4, page 226, (1978) Author: R. and A. Fernandes |