Information

Regularly branched evergreen tree 5–45 m. tall, the larger specimens with fluted bole. Young branchlets densely ferrugineous appressed–tomentose, older twigs glabrous, with grey, roughish, longitudinally fissured bark. Leaves coriaceous, clustered at ends of branches. Lamina 5–20 x 1·5–5·5 cm., oblanceolate to narrowly obovate or less often elliptic, the apex usually cuspidate–acuminate or sometimes obtuse, the base narrowly acute. Petiole 8–20 mm. long. Upper leaf surface dark green, appressed–pilose to glabrescent, with inconspicuous impressed midrib and lateral nerves and a fine raised reticulation. Lower surface densely silvery– or ferrugineous–sericeous, with conspicuous prominent midrib and lateral nerves, the latter 16–21 on each side, diverging from the midrib at c. 60°, almost straight except near the margin, here becoming faint and curving towards apex. Flowers subsessile, borne in axils of current leaves or on slightly older wood, in dense fascicles or sometimes solitary. Calyx c. 3·2 mm. long, cup–shaped; lobes ovate, strongly imbricate, appressed–pubescent on both sides, the outer ones a little larger and more leathery. Corolla c. 3·6 mm. long, white; lobes ± equalling tube, ovate, slightly auricled at base, ciliate. Stamens inserted near base of corolla–tube; filaments c. 1·6 mm. long, glabrous; anthers c. 1·2 mm. long. Small fleshy staminodes sometimes present. Gynoecium c. 2·2 mm. long. Fruit up to 4 x 3 cm., globose to ellipsoid, sometimes somewhat apiculate, with dense reddish–brown pubescence often rubbing away in patches, 4–5–seeded. Seeds up to 2·8 x 1·2 cm., dark brown or blackish.