Desmopsis panamensis (B.L.Rob.) Saff.

Schatz, G. E., Maas, P. J. M., Kamer, H. Maas-van de, Westra, L. Y. T. & Wieringa, J. J., 2018, Revision of the Neotropical genus Desmopsis (Annonaceae), Blumea 63 (1), pp. 67-86 : 80

18. Desmopsis panamensis (B.L.Rob.) Saff. — Map 3

Desmopsis panamensis (B.L.Rob.) Saff. (1916) 185, pl. 7. — Unona panamensis B.L.Rob. (in Robinson & Greenman 1895) 175. — Type: Hayes s.n. (468 in some duplicates) (holo GH; iso EAP, F, GH, K, NY 2 sheets, S 2 sheets, US 3 sheets, VT), Panama, ‘woods near Gatún Station on the old Panama Railway’, 20–30 m, 30 Jan. 1860.

Tree or shrub 2–15 m tall, diam not recorded; young twigs and petiole densely covered with erect and some appressed, brown to white, often curly hairs. Leaves: petiole 2–6 mm long, 1–2 mm diam; lamina narrowly elliptic, 10–20 by 4–8 cm, chartaceous, glabrous, but primary vein mostly covered with erect hairs above, sparsely covered with appressed and erect, often curly hairs below, the primary vein mostly densely so, base acute to obtuse, apex acuminate (acumen 5–10 mm long), the extreme tip obtuse, primary vein impressed above, secondary veins 8–12 on either side of primary vein, slightly raised above, tertiary veins slightly raised to flat above, reticulate. Inflorescence and flower indument: pedicels and outer side of bracts, sepals, and petals rather densely covered with erect and appressed hairs. Inflorescences 1–6-flowered, leaf-opposed; pedicels 30–70 mm long, c. 1 mm diam, to c. 100 m long and 1.5–2 mm diam in fruit; basal bract leafy, broadly ovate to circular, 3–42 by 2–26 mm, upper bract scale-like, broadly ovate-triangular, 1–3 mm long; sepals ovate-triangular to broadly so, 2–5 by 2–5 mm, sometimes reflexed; petals yellow, subequal, narrowly triangular, 8–31 by 3–7 mm, margins strongly revolute, apex incurved. Monocarps 5–25, green, maturing orange, red to purple, ellipsoid-oblongoid to spherical, 10–30 by 9–16 mm, glabrous, occasionally rather densely covered with long-persisting, appressed and erect, white, curly hairs, apex rounded, sometimes slightly constricted between the seeds upon drying, wall 0.2–0.5 mm thick, stipes 5–12 mm long, 1–1.5 mm diam. Seeds 2–7, in one row, discoid or hemispherical, 6–11 by 2–5 mm, slightly grooved and pitted.

Distribution — Panama ( Panama, Veraguas).

Habitat & Ecology — In lowland rain forests. At elevations of 0– 800 m. Flowering: September to April; fruiting: all year through.

Vernacular name — Panama: Anonilla.

Field observations — ‘Fruit eaten by white-faced monkeys’ ( Croat 1978: 401, Panama).

Notes — Desmopsis panamensis is characterized by a brown to white indument of appressed and erect more or less curly hairs on the young twigs, small sepals (2–5 mm long), and relatively long pedicels (30–100 mm long).

On Barro Colorado Island the monocarps have a rather long-persisting indument.