Ocotea comoriensis Kosterm.
Creators: name: Werff, Henk Van Der
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2013
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Laurales
Lauraceae
Ocotea
Ocotea comoriensis

description: 5. <i>Ocotea comoriensis</i> Kosterm. <i>Notulae systematicae</i> 8: 91 (1939). TYPUS. — <b>Comores</b>. Anjouan, <i>Humblot 1561</i> (holo-, P [P00751075]!). SELECTED SPECIMENS SEEN. — Anjouan, 1 km E of Dindi, <i>Hunter 75</i> (MO); Grande Comore, Forêt de la Grille, <i>Brionnaud et al. 6</i> (MO, P[P00213218, P00213219]); Mayotte, Grande Terre-Chiconi, <i>Barthelat et al. 1502</i> (MO, P[P00631158]); Moheli, Forêt deVoundrouvou, <i>Floret 1234</i> (MO, P[P00184896]). DISTRIBUTION. — Known from Anjouan, Grande Comore, Mayotte and Moheli, without indication of altitude. PHENOLOGY. — Flowers: June-July and November-December; fruits: October, November, February. VERNACULAR NAMES. — M’Roboué, Mrébé, Mkanouhou, M’Faperou. DESCRIPTION Tree, to 25 m tall.Twigs terete or slightly angled, puberulous when young, but soon becoming glabrous; terminal buds rather densely appressed pubescent. Leaves alternate, chartaceous, elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 7-17 × 2.5-5 cm, the base acute or obtuse, tip acute, glabrous above, glabrous or with some appressed hairs near the base and along midrib below; lateral veins 4-7 on each side, the basal lateral veins strongly developed and with conspicuous slit domatia in the axils, sometimes domatia also present in axils of more distal veins; midrib and lateral veins immersed on upper surface, raised on lower surface. Petioles glabrous, canaliculate, 8-13 mm long. Inflorescences axillary, 5-12 cm long, sparsely puberulous, the indument becoming denser towards the flowers. Flowers white.Tepals 6, equal, pubescent or nearly glabrous on both surfaces, <i>c.</i> 2 mm long; stamens 9, all 4-celled, the cells arranged in two rows, inner 3 stamens with two glands near the base; staminodia 3, pubescent, 0.8 mm long, linear; ovary <i>c.</i> 1 mm long, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, style <i>c.</i> 1.5 mm long, glabrous or with a few lines of hairs. Receptacle glabrous inside. Fruits ellipsoid, 2 × 1 cm, cupule deeply cup-shaped, 1 cm high, the pedicel in fruit markedly swollen. REMARKS <i>Ocotea comoriensis</i> is the only species of <i>Ocotea</i> known from the Comores. Characteristic is the combination of tripliveined, alternate, rather large leaves and the slit-domatia. It can only be confused with <i>O. humblotii</i> Baill., but the latter species has pinnately veined, not tripliveined leaves. <i>Ocotea comoriensis</i> is rather variable in leaf dimensions, and degree of pubescence on flowers and pistil, but characters listed above and its distribution make correct identification simple.
description: Published as part of <i>Werff, Henk Van Der, 2013, A revision of the genus Ocotea Aubl. (Lauraceae) in Madagascar and the Comoro Islands, pp. 235-279 in Adansonia (3) (3) 35 (2)</i> on page 245, DOI: 10.5252/a2013n2a5, http://zenodo.org/record/5206484
description: {"references": ["KOSTERMANS A. J. G. H. 1939. - Enumeratio Lauracearum Madagascariensium et ex Insulis Mascarenis. (Revisio Lauracearum VI). Notulae systematicae 8 (2): 67 - 128."]}