''Rhodolaena leroyana'' is a plant in the family

Sarcolaenaceae The Sarcolaenaceae are a family of flowering plants endemic to Madagascar. The family includes 79 species of mostly evergreen trees and shrubs in ten genera. Recent DNA studies indicate that the Sarcolaenaceae are a sibling taxon to the family ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

is for the botanist

Jean-François Leroy Jean-François Leroy (; 24 September 1729 - 1791) was a French architect. For the Prince of Condé, he worked on the Château of Chantilly, the Palais Bourbon, and the Hôtel de Lassay, where he replaced in 1780. Biography Leroy was born in Cha ...

Description

''Rhodolaena leroyana'' grows as a shrub or small tree up to tall. The twigs are hairless. Its subcoriaceous leaves are elliptic to

obovate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

in shape and measure up to long. The solitary

inflorescences An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

have one or two flowers on a peduncle measuring up to long. Individual flowers are large with five

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 ...

and five purple-pink petals, measuring up to long. The fruits are large and woody, with a fleshy

involucre 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 ...

Distribution and habitat

''Rhodolaena leroyana'' is known only from the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Atsinanana Atsinanana is a coastal region in eastern Madagascar. It borders Analanjirofo region in the north, Alaotra-Mangoro in the west, Vakinankaratra and Amoron'i Mania in the southwest, and Vatovavy and Fitovinany in south. The region contains over 285 ...

where it is confined to

Betampona Reserve Betampona Reserve is a nature reserve in Toamasina Province of Madagascar. It is located 40 km northwest of Toamasina Toamasina (), meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French Tamatave, is the capital of the Atsinanana region ...

. Its habitat is humid evergreen forest from to altitude. The conservation status of the species is vulnerable.

References

leroyana Endemic flora of Madagascar Plants described in 2000 {{Sarcolaenaceae-stub