Monodora Dunal, Monogr. Anon. 3: 79 1817
Creators: name: Couvreur, Thomas L. P.
name: Dagallier, Leo-Paul M. J.
name: Crozier, Francoise
name: Ghogue, Jean-Paul
name: Hoekstra, Paul H.
name: Kamdem, Narcisse G.
name: Johnson, David M.
name: Murray, Nancy A.
name: Sonke, Bonaventure
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Magnoliales
Annonaceae
Monodora

description: Monodora Dunal, Monogr. Anon. 3: 79, 1817 Type species. <i>Monodora myristica</i> (Gaertner) Dunal. Description. Trees, rarely shrubs or rarely lianas, 4-40 m tall, d.b.h. 6-100 cm; stilt roots or buttresses absent. Indumentum of simple hairs, or absent. Leaves: petiole 2-14 mm long, 1-2 mm in diameter, blade inserted on the side of the petiole; blade 4-50 cm long, 2-15 cm wide, elliptic or obovate or oblong or ovate, apex acuminate, acumen ca. 1 cm long; base cuneate to rounded, concolorous; midrib <b>raised above</b>; secondary veins 8 to 23 pairs; tertiary venation reticulate. Individuals bisexual; inflorescences ramiflorous on old or young foliate branches, leaf opposed or extra axillary, <b>1 per inflorescence</b>; pedicel 8-270 mm long, 1-2 mm in diameter; in fruit 25-350 mm long, 3-15 mm in diameter; bract 1, towards the upper half or middle of pedicel; sepals 3, valvate, free, 2-40 mm long, 2-17 mm wide, ovate or elliptic, apex acute or attenuate or rounded, base truncate, margins flat, undulate, wavy or crisped; <b>petals basally fused</b>, tube 2-8 mm long, <b>inner and outer whorl differentiated</b>, <b>outer petals longer than inner</b>; outer petals 3, 17-105 mm long, 6-40 mm wide, oblong or obovate or ovate, apex truncate, base truncate <b>or with two small lobes</b>, margins flat or wavy or crisped; inner petals 3, valvate, 9-35 mm long, 5-30 mm wide, cordate or rhombic or triangular to cochleate, apex acuminate to acute, <b>base narrowed into a claw</b>, claw 1-9 mm long; receptacle flat to strongly convex; stamens numerous, in 9 to 20 rows, 1-2 mm long, broad; connective discoid or elongated; staminodes absent; <b>carpels fused into a syncarpous ovary</b>, 1-5 mm long, stigma bilobed, slightly capitate. <b>Fruit syncarpous</b>, sessile, 35-150 mm long, 20-150 mm in diameter, globose or ovoid or conical, apex apiculate to rounded; seeds numerous, 9-22 mm long, 5-13 mm in diameter, ellipsoid or flattened ellipsoid; aril absent. A genus of trees with 14 known species, from West, Central and East Africa. In Cameroon six species are known, one endemic. <i>Monodora</i>, together with its sister genus <i>Isolona</i>, are unique in Annonaceae in having truly syncarpous ovaries, producing single fruits with unordered seeds, in contrast to other genera which have either uni- or biseriate placentation. Petals in <i>Monodora</i> are basally fused forming a short (not clearly visible) tube. The petals, however, are differentiated into inner and outer whorls, in contrast to <i>Isolona</i> (which has six equal lobes in a single whorl with a visible tube). In the vegetative state, <i>Monodora</i> and <i>Isolona</i> (together with <i>Polyceratocarpous pellegrinii</i>) are characterized by a raised leaf midrib on the upper side, in contrast to a sunken or flat midrib in all other genera found in Cameroon. <i>Monodora</i> species tend to have a whitish-grey wax indumentum on young leaves and fruits, which is especially noticeable in the common and widespread species <i>M. myristica</i>. Taxonomy. Couvreur (2009).
description: Published as part of <i>Couvreur, Thomas L. P., Dagallier, Leo-Paul M. J., Crozier, Francoise, Ghogue, Jean-Paul, Hoekstra, Paul H., Kamdem, Narcisse G., Johnson, David M., Murray, Nancy A. &amp; Sonke, Bonaventure, 2022, Flora of Cameroon - Annonaceae Vol 45, pp. 1-532 in PhytoKeys 207</i> on pages 246-247, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.207.61432
description: {"references": ["Couvreur, TLP, 2009. Monograph of the syncarpous African genera Isolona and Monodora (Annonaceae). Systematic Botany Monographs 87: 1 - 150"]}