Psychotria brachiata Sw.

Palo de cachimbo (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Gentianales > Rubiaceae > Psychotria

Characteristics

Trees to 5 m tall, the branchlets smooth, glabrous, the nodes well spaced. Leaves oblong or lanceolate, occasionally obovate elliptic, 7-16 cm long, 3-7 cm wide, obtuse or widely cuneate at the apex, the acumen to 1 cm, basally acute or rarely obtuse, often slightly inequilateral, the costa prominulous above, prom-inent beneath, usually laterally villose, the lateral veins 9-12, arcuate or occa-sionally subperpendicular, the intervenal areas spreading reticulate, papyraceous, concolorous; petioles to 2.5(-3.5) cm long, glabrous, slender, 0.15 cm wide; sti-pules free, oblong or oblong rotund, 2-4 mm long, often bilobed, the lobes ca. 1 mm long, obtuse or rounded, 3-4 mm wide basally, appressed, scarious, gla-brous or occasionally pubescent, appressed setose submarginally within. Inflo-rescences terminal, solitary, 5-22 cm long, 3.5-7.0 cm wide, thrysoid or racemi-form paniculate, usually rigidly upright, glabrous to puberulent, rarely epedunculate and then with branches in pairs or in 3's arising from the stem tip, usually with peduncles to 5.5 cm long, 0.8-1.0 mm wide, angular, usually with 2-4 pairs of well spaced, opposite branches 1-3(-4) cm apart, to 9 cm long, the uppermost branches occasionally about as long as the lowermost pair, usually perpendicular, occasionally deflexed, the flowers aggregated into compressed ro-tund heads terminating the branches, these wider than long, to 1 cm wide; bracts at the base of the branches involute, oblong, to 8 mm long; floral bracts usually carinate, the outer bracts larger, to 6 mm long, to 5 mm wide, the inner bracts ca. 4 mm long, narrower. Flowers with the hypanthium short, the calycine cup a membranous, inflated cuplike structure, 1.5-3.0 mm long, the margin irregular or with irregular, triangular teeth, to 0.8 mm long, ciliolate outside; corolla yellow or greenish white, the tube 4-5 mm long, carnose, pubescent outside, the lobes 5, ovate oblong or triangular, 1 mm long; stamens 5, the anthers oblong, 1.3-2.0 mm long, obtuse, often minutely apiculate, the filaments 3 mm long, attached (in bud) below the middle of the tube; ovarian disc compressed rotund, ca. 0.35 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, the style slender, 1.5-2.0 mm long, the stigmas 2, digitiform, 1.0-1.8 mm long. Fruits succulent, china blue or blue black, ellipsoid to subro-tund, to 1 cm long, the pyrenes costate, glabrous to occasionally puberulent, the persistent calyx cupuliform, to 1.5 mm long.
Life form perennial
Growth form shrub
Growth support -
Foliage retention
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 5.0
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Environment

Light -
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Usage

Uses medicinal
Edible -
Therapeutic use Purgative (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
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Distribution

Psychotria brachiata world distribution map, present in Panama

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:761518-1
WFO ID wfo-0000285109
COL ID -
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN)
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Psychotria brachiata Psychotria caerulea