''Mitrephora macclurei'' is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

and Vietnam. Aruna Weerasooriya and Richard Saunders, the botanists who first formally described the species, named it after Floyd Alonzo McClure of Lingnan University (formerly Canton Christian College), who collected the holotype specimen that they examined.

Description

It is a tree reaching 7–10 meters in height. Its branches have

lenticel A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a ...

s. Its leathery, lance-shaped leaves are 8-14 by 3–4.5 centimeters with shallowly pointed bases and pointed tips. The upper side of the leaves are glossy and hairless, while the undersides are covered in sparse, fine hairs. The leaves have 7-9 pairs of secondary veins emanating from their midribs. Its petioles are 6–8.5 by 1.4-2 millimeters and covered in sparse, fine hairs. The flowers occur in groups of 3 or fewer on a rachis positioned opposite leaves. Flowers are attached to the rachis by fleshy, densely hairy

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

that are 12-20 by 1.1-1.5 millimeters. The pedicels have an oval, basal bract that is 3.5 by 2.5 millimeters, and another upper bract that is 1.5-2.5 by 2-4 millimeters. Its flowers have 3 oval sepals that are 3-4 by 3-3.5 millimeters. The sepals are covered in dense, velvety, brown hairs on their outer surface and sparse hairs on their inner surface. Its 6 petals are arranged in two rows of 3. The outer petals are initially white, turning yellow at maturity. The elliptical to oval, outer petals are 1.8-2.5 by 1.1-2.0 centimeters and come to a point at their tips. The outer petals are covered in sparse, brown, fine hairs inside and out. The purple inner petals are 11-13 by 6.5-8.5 millimeters with a basal claw. The inner petals have sparse, fine hairs on their outer surface. The inner surface of inner petals is covered in hairs that become longer at the tip. Its flowers have more than 100 yellow

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 ...

that are 1.5-1.9 by 0.7-0.9 millimeters. Its flowers have 7-8

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'' ...

that are 2-2.5 by 0.9 millimeters. The carpels have 8-10 ovules. Its fruit occur in clusters of up to 6 on woody pedicels that are 13 by 4 millimeters and covered in sparse, fine hairs. The smooth, sparsely hairy, oval fruit are 3.8 by 2.5 centimeters. The fruit are attached to the pedicel by stipes that are 14-18 by 3.5-4 millimeters and covered in sparse, brown, fine hairs. Each fruit has 4-8 oval, brown, seeds that are 1.2 by 1.0 centimeters.

Reproductive biology

The pollen of ''M. macclurei'' is shed as permanent tetrads.

Habitat and distribution

It has been observed growing in forests, often near rivers, with limestone soil at elevations of 800 meters.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17139901 macclurei Flora of China Flora of Laos Flora of Vietnam Plants described in 2005 Taxa named by Richard M.K. Saunders