Crudia acuta

Author: de Wit

Morphological description
Tree to 8 m high. Stipules intrapetiolar, 1-2 mm long, sparsely puberulous outside, slightly hairy on edge.

Leaves (2-)3-4(-6)-foliolate, shortly petioled; petiole and rachis 2.5-13.5 cm long; petiolules 3-5 mm, glabrous. Leaflets chartaceous, obovate, oblanceolate, 9-15(-20) by 3.5-6.5 cm, apex abruptly, shortly caudate to cuspidate; base cuneate to attenuate, often asymmetric; glabrous above, loosely, minutely appressed puberulous, glabrescent (or almost glabrous except on the midrib) beneath; nerves 5-7 per side.

Inflorescences (acuta Crudia TYPE infl ) axillary, solitary, 20-30 cm long, pendulous, rachis puberulous, rather densely flowered; bracts c. 2 mm long, the outer ones ovate, inner ones 3-lobed (the middle lobe redivided into a 3-5-pointed fork) and fan-shaped, caducous, deciduous or persistent, puberulous, glabrescent, often minutely ciliate on the margin; bracteoles minute, triangular, 0.35-0.75 mm long; pedicels 1.5-3 mm, articulated at the apex, puberulous.

Flowers yellowish or greenish white, puberulous outside, glabrescent, glabrous inside. Hypanthium c. 1 mm long. Calyx lobes oblong-ovate or ovate, 3-4 by 1.5-2 mm. Stamens 10; filaments 4-7 mm, glabrous; anthers 0.75 mm long. Pistil stipitate; stipe 1-1.5 mm long, free, glabrous; ovary c. 3 mm long, 4(or 5)-ovuled; style 3-5 mm, glabrous, recurved; stigma minute, round.

Pods not seen.

Distribution
Malesia: Sumatra (Simalur Isl., Indragiri, and Lampong).

Habitat & Ecology
In marshy or drier forest, 5-400 m altitude Fl. January

Note
There are several bracts at the base of the peduncle, which were described as 'peduncular bracts' by de Wit (1950: 410). These bracts appear to be 3-lobed, and the middle one redivided towards the lower one-third into a 4(or 5)-pointed, more or less fan-shaped, hairy fork.

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