Ocotea veraguensis (Meisn.) Mez

Tree or shrub 3-10 m. high; branchlets finely gray-or tawny-sericeous, quickly becoming pale gray, glabrous, striate. Leaves alternate or subopposite; petioles stout, canaliculate, blackish, glabrescent, to 1 (-1.5) cm. long; blades early soft grayish-pubescent beneath, becoming entirely glabrous, chartaceous, usually uni-formly pale grayish green, the upper surface very smooth, elliptic, lanceolate-elliptic, oblong, oblong-elliptic, rarely obovate, variable in size, (4-) 9 (-13) cm. long and (2-) 4 ;(-7) cm. broad, the base obtuse or cuneate, the apex rounded-obtuse or obtusely acute, the margin in the dried state usually conspicuously minutely undulate or crisped, penninerved, the costa very prominent above and beneath, although only slightly elevated above and more conspicuously so beneath, the nerves 6 or more pairs, obscure above, only faintly visible beneath, the reticu-lation also obscure. Inflorescence axillary, paniculate, 3-13 cm. long, grayish-pubescent to glabrescent, many-flowered, the ultimate branchlets frequently giving the appearance of a capitulum, the peduncle up to 4-6 (-9) cm. long. Flowers to 5 mm. long, more than twice that in diameter at anthesis, pubescent, pedicels slender, pubescent, to 6 mm. or more long; perianth-tube well developed, the lobes oblong or elliptic, obtuse or acutish, thick, fleshy, papillose, to 3-3.5 mm. long; stamens of ser. I & II 2.4 mm. long, anthers petaloid, obovate, nearly sessile, the protruding papillose connective more than one-third the entire length; those of ser. III longer, the anthers with short filaments, the glands conspicuous, short-stipitate or sessile, often nearly the length of the anthers; staminodia, if present, variable, linear or with stipitate ovate head, always pubescent, 0.6-0.9 mm. long; gynaecium glabrous, to 2.15 mm. long, the ovary ellipsoid to subglobose, usually twice the length of the tapering style, the stigma conspicuous, triangular. Fruit (immature?) greenish or light brown, not very firm in texture, ellipsoid, apiculate, to 1.7 X 1 cm., the subtending cupule shallow, thinnish, to 5 cm. long, 12 mm. in diameter and 3-4 mm. deep, the margin distinctly double, the outer somewhat thickened and undulate, the inner plane, paler in color, minutely pubescent, and protruding beyond the outer for less than 1 mm., the pedicel to 1 cm. long, en-larging towards the apex to about, 3 mm. in diameter.

Dense primary forests, both along their edges and in the dark interiors. Moist or dry forest or thickets, most common along stream banks, often on dry rocky hillsides; usually at elevations up to 700 metres, sometimes to 1,400 metres.

Can be grown by seedlings.