Chiococca nitida Benth.

Jardim, Jomar G., Taylor, Charlotte M., Barbosa, Maria Regina & Pessoa, Maria Do Céo R., 2015, Taxonomic notes on Chiococca and Salzmannia (Rubiaceae, Chiococceae) in northeastern Brazil, with a new combination and a new species, Phytotaxa 202 (1), pp. 15-25 : 19

Chiococca nitida Benth.

This species is found in humid vegetation, and was described and illustrated by Steyermark (1974) and Taylor & Steyermark (2004a). It is characterized by its relatively large subcoriaceous leaves that are usually shiny adaxially and its narrowly ellipsoid fruits that generally have only one developed pyrene. In the Northeast Region of Brazil it is known from restinga scrub and semidecidous forest near the coast. Delprete (2004) described the corolla of the Brazilian plants as having four lobes; the number of lobes varies between four and five elsewhere ( Steyermark, 1974). This species has been frequently overlooked and thus confused with C. alba . It is widespread but not as common as C. alba . Chiococca nitida has also been confused with C. plowmanii , see the discussion under that species.