'' Bocagea viridis'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the family Annonaceae. It is native to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Augustin Saint-Hilaire Augustin François César Prouvençal de Saint-Hilaire (4 October 17793 September 1853) was French botanist and traveller who was born and died in Orléans, France. A keen observer, he is credited with important discoveries in botany, notably the ...

, the French botanist who first formally described the species, named it after its green ( in Latin) flowers.

Description

It is a bush reaching 5 meters in height. Its black to brown, young branches are covered in soft downy hairs. Its wrinkled, gray mature branches are hairless. Its oval to oblong, papery leaves are 4.1-8.5 by 1.4-3.8 centimeters. The leaves have a pointed base and their tips come to a tapering point. The leaves lack hair on the upper surface but are hairy on their underside. The leaves have 9-12 secondary veins emanating from either side of their midribs. The secondary veins curve toward the leaf apex at an angle of 60°-70° and their ends join to form loops. Its petioles are 1.8-2.6 millimeters long, covered in soft downy hairs, and have a channel on their upper surface. Its 4.5 millimeter long, solitary flowers are on peduncles that are 6.8-9 millimeters long and lack bracteoles. The flowers have 3 triangle-shaped

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s that are 0.8-1 by 0.9-1.1 millimeters, covered with hairs on their outer surface, and come to point at their tips. Its flowers have two rows of white to green, leathery petals. The oval external petals are 3.9 by 2.4 millimeters, concave, covered in sparse fine hairs, and come to a tapering point at their tips. The broader, more rounded, inner petals are 3.9 by 2.9 millimeters and come to a tapering point at their tip. Its flowers’ receptacles are 1.2 millimeters in diameter. Its flowers have 1-3

carpels Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

. Its

ovaries The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. T ...

are 1.5-2.3 by 0.8-1.2 millimeters, covered in dense fine hairs, have a single chamber, convex backs, and flat faces. Each ovary has 7-8

ovule In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the ''integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the fe ...

s arranged in two rows. Its cone-shaped, broad

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s are 2.4 by 1.6 millimeters, concave on the back, and convex on their face. The stamen filaments are indistinct. Its smooth, rounded stigma lack a stalk. Its hairless, warty, oval fruit are 6-6.8 millimeters long.

Distribution and habitat

Saint-Hilaire observed in the forest of the Brazilian municipality

Ubá Ubá is a municipality located in the Zona da Mata mesoregion of Minas Gerais, Brazil, southeast of Belo Horizonte, and north of Rio de Janeiro. The estimated population of the city of Ubá was 116,797 in 2020. The current mayor of Ubá is Eds ...

. It has also been collected from

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

and a plantation in

Vitória, Espírito Santo Vitória (, ''Victory''), spelled Victória until the 1940s, is the capital of the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. It is located on a small island within a bay where a number of rivers meet the sea. It was founded in 1551. The city proper has ...

Reproductive biology

The pollen of ''B. viridis'' is shed as permanent tetrads.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15398776 Annonaceae Flora of Brazil Plants described in 1825 Taxa named by Augustin Saint-Hilaire