''Pseuduvaria coriacea'' 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

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

Yvonne Chuan Fang Su Yvonne Chuan Fang Su is a Hong Kong evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist who is notable for her co-discovery of Pseuduvaria bruneiensis and Pseuduvaria borneensis. Her doctoral work at the University of Hong Kong focused on the Phylogenet ...

and

Richard M.K. Saunders Richard M. K. Saunders (born 1964) is a botanist. Work Among other subjects, his work has focused on the systematics and evolution of Annonaceae, a Family (biology), family of flowering plants. Legacy He is the authority for the followin ...

, the botanists who first formally described the species, named it after its leathery ( in Latin) leaves.

Description

It is a tree reaching 5 meters in height. Its elliptical to oval, thick, leathery leaves are 24-44 by 6-14 centimeters. The leaves have heart-shaped bases and rounded to tapering tips. The leaves are hairless on their upper and lower surfaces except for the midrib which is densely hairy on the lower surface. The leaves have 16-26 pairs of secondary veins emanating from their midribs. Its densely hairy petioles are 4-9 by 2–5.5 millimeters with a groove on their upper side. Its

Inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s are organized on short peduncles. Each inflorescence has up to 1-2 flowers. Each flower is on a densely hairy

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

that is 4-7 by 0.5-2 millimeters. The flowering pedicels have a medial, densely hairy

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

that is 1.5 millimeters long.The flowers are unisexual or hermaphroditic. Its flowers have 3 triangular

sepals 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 ...

, that are 3.5 by 3 millimeters. The sepals are hairless on their upper surface, densely hairy on their lower surface, and have fine hairs on their margins. Its 6 petals are arranged in two rows of 3. The oval to elliptical, outer petals are 4-6 by 5–6.5 millimeters with hairless upper surfaces and densely hairy lower surfaces. The outer petals are dark purple-brown. The oval inner petals have a 0.5-1 millimeter long claw at their base and a 4-7 by 4–7.5 millimeter blade. The inner petals have pointed tips and flat bases. The red-orange inner petals are smooth on their upper surface and densely hairy on their lower surface. Male flowers have up to 70

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 that are 0.6-0.9 by 0.5-0.9 millimeters. Hermaphroditic flowers have up to 23 stamens that are 0.6-0.9 by 0.5-0.9 millimeters and up to 11

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 2-2.4 by 1-.14 millimeters. Each carpel has 4-10

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. Fruit are on sparsely hairy pedicels that are 4-11 by 2.4 millimeters. The fruit occur in clusters of 4-8 monocarps. The mature monocarps are oval to ellipsoidal and 13-30 by 8-30 millimeters. The mature, orange monocarps are smooth and covered in hair. Each monocarp has around 4-10 seeds arranged in two rows. The smooth, hemi-spherical seeds are 9.5-13.5 by 6–9.5 by 2.5-5 millimeters.

Reproductive biology

The pollen of ''P. coriacea'' is shed as permanent tetrads.

Habitat and distribution

It has been observed growing in lowland forests, at elevations from 60 to 900 meters.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17135215 coriacea Flora of New Guinea Plants described in 2006 Taxa named by Richard M.K. Saunders Taxa named by Yvonne Chuan Fang Su