Pseudephedranthus Aristeg.

Erkens, Roy H. J., Oosterhof, Jessica, Westra, Lubbert Y. T. & Maas, Paul J. M., 2017, Revisions of Ruizodendron and Pseudephedranthus (Annonaceae) including a new species and an overview of most up-to-date revisions of Neotropical Annonaceae genera, PhytoKeys 86, pp. 75-96 : 84

Pseudephedranthus Aristeg.

Pseudephedranthus Aristeg., Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 18(2): 43. f. 10. 1969.

Type.

Pseudephedranthus fragrans (R.E.Fr.) Aristeg. (= Ephedranthus fragrans R.E.Fr.).

Description.

Trees; young twigs glabrous. Leaves: distichous, simple, entire, shortly petiolate, exstipulate; lamina medium-sized, elliptic, venation brochidodromous, primary vein raised above. Inflorescences axillary, 1-4-flowered with 2nd order flowers originating from axils of lower bracts (or possibly also through accessory buds), often persisting on older leafless branchlets, pedicels with articulation in lower part and with 3-5 bracts, the uppermost bract above the articulation. Flower s actinomorphic, bisexual or staminate (androdioecious), 3-merous, perianth consisting of one whorl of sepals and two whorls of petals; sepals 3, valvate, basally connate, much shorter than the petals; petals 6, imbricate, elliptic, free, subequal; staminate flowers: torus conical, stamens numerous, extrorse, filament very short, apical prolongation of connective broadly ovoid in basal stamens to discoid in distal stamens; bisexual flowers: torus slightly raised, stamens numerous, but less so than in staminate flowers, apical prolongation of connective broadly ovoid; carpels numerous, spirally arranged, free, ovary 1-locular, with 1 basal ovule, style absent, stigma ovoid, papillate. Fruit apocarpous, composed of few, indehiscent monocarps, these ellipsoid, distinctly stipitate. Seed 1, pale brown, rumination lamellate in 2-4 parts, raphe a distinct groove.

Distribution.

Two species in the Amazon regions of Venezuela and Brazil, and in Guyana and Suriname.

Key to the species of Pseudephedranthus

1a	Petioles 3-5 mm long; leaf base acute to attenuate; outer side of outer petals (rather) densely covered with appressed hairs, inner side of outer petals and both sides of inner petals densely covered with white or greyish white curly hairs (Suriname, and the Brazilian state of Pará) P. enigmaticus
1b	Petioles 8-12 mm long; leaf base obtuse to less often acute, the extreme base shortly atttenuate or not; outer side of outer and inner petals densely covered with appressed, not curly hairs to ca. 0.1 mm, inner side of outer and inner petals sparsely covered with appressed hairs or glabrous (Upper Río Negro region of Brazil and Venezuela)	P. fragrans