Trichilia tuberculata (Triana & Planch.) C.DC.

Pennington, Terence D., 2016, Systematic Treatment Of American Trichilia (Meliaceae), Phytotaxa 259 (1), pp. 18-162 : 113-114

57. Trichilia tuberculata (Triana & Planch.) C.DC. in A. & C.DC., Monogr. Phan. 1: 711 (1878); T.D.Penn., Fl. Neotrop. 28: 201. (1981). Maps 64–65

Odontandra tuberculata Triana & Planch., Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot. Sér. 5, 15: 374 (1872). Type :— PANAMA. Empire Station, fl., fr., Sutton-Hayes 262 (holotype, P; isotypes, BR, G, K).

Illustration: FN 28: 143, fig. 25; 153, fig. 27 (1981).

Young branches slender, 3–4 mm diam., minutely appressed puberulous (most trichomes dibrachiate), soon becoming glabrous, brown or greyish brown, rough and lenticellate. Bud scales absent. Leaves imparipinnate or pinnate with one leaflet of ultimate pair orientated to simulate a terminal leaflet, petiole 2–5, 5(–9) cm long, semiterete above, usually narrowly winged towards the base, sparsely puberulous to glabrous, rhachis 3–12(–20) cm long, semiterete or terete, glabrous; petiolule (1–)1.5–3(–5) mm long. Leaflets usually alternate, rarely a few opposite, 5–7(–10), 7 × 2–15 × 5 cm, narrowly to broadly elliptic, rarely oblong or oblanceolate, (narrowly elliptic in subsp. lanceolata ), apex usually narrowly attenuate or acuminate, rarely acute or acutely cuspidate, base attenuate, basal pair often smaller, glabrous, chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, sometimes glandular-punctate and -striate; venation eucamptodromous, midrib raised on the upper surface, secondaries 10–16(–17) pairs, shallowly to steeply arcuate-ascending, slightly convergent or parallel; intersecondaries long or short; tertiaries obscure. Flowers unisexual (plant dioecious); inflorescence solitary, axillary, or several grouped on a short axillary shoot, 5–20(–25) cm long, a sparsely- to profusely-branched, few- to many-flowered thyrse, sparsely appressed puberulous to glabrous; pedicel 0.5–1.5 mm long. Calyx rotate to patelliform (0.25–)0.5–0.75(–1) mm long, with 3–5 irregular triangular, acute obtuse or rounded shallow lobes or margin subtruncate, sparsely appressed puberulous to glabrous. Petals 3–5, 1.75–2.5 mm long, 0.75–1.5 mm broad, free or fused for one third to two thirds their length, valvate, spreading and reflexing with age, outside with scattered minute appressed hairs or glabrous. Staminal tube 1–1.5(–1.75) mm long, urceolate, filaments completely fused, margin with 5–8(–9) lanceolate to subulate teeth alternating with the anthers and half to threequarters their length, glabrous, anthers 5–8(–9), 0.3–0.8 mm long, glabrous; antherodes slender, not dehiscent, without pollen. Nectary represented by a small swelling around the base of the ovary, or absent. Ovary ovoid, 3(–4)-locular, locules with 2 collateral ovules, shortly puberulous, style glabrous, style-head minute, capitate; pistillode smaller, conical, with non-functional ovules. Capsule (1.2–)1.4–1.6(–2) cm long, 0.6–0.8(–1.2) cm broad, 3(–4) valved, valves strongly reflexed, oblong to narrowly ellipsoid or narrowly obovoid, apex rounded or obtuse, smooth to strongly verrucose, with scattered minute appressed hairs or glabrous, pericarp 0.5–3 mm thick, endocarp thin and cartilaginous. Seed 1(–2) in each fruit, collateral, 0.6–1.2 cm long, 0.3–1 cm broad, completely surrounded by a thin fleshy arillode, which also develops around the abortive ovules, arillode thickened at apex, free from the seed except for a thin line of attachment from micropyle to raphe, seed coat thin and soft. Embryo with plano-convex, collateral cotyledons, radicle apical, included; endosperm absent.

Key to the subspecies of Trichilia tuberculata .

1. Ultimate leaflets broadly elliptic, oblong or oblanceolate, 2.5–3.5 times as long as broad, plant of non-flooded rain forest............. ........................................................................................................................................................................... a. subsp. tuberculata .

-. Ultimate leaflets narowly elliptic with long slender attenuate apex, 5–7 times as long as broad, plant of rocks among cataracts ..... .............................................................................................................................................................................b. subsp. lanceolata .