Warneckea sousae (A.Fern. & R.Fern.) A.E.van Wyk

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/149258357/153685993

Conservation

NT - near threatened

Melastomataceae, R. and A. Fernandes. Flora Zambesiaca 4. 1978

Morphology General Habit

Shrub c. 3 m. high.

Morphology Branches

Young branches acutely 4-gonous, yellowish-brown or grey, the old ones subcylindric, covered with greyish striate bark; nodes much thickened; internodes 0·8–5·5 cm. long.

Morphology Leaves

Leaf-lamina elliptic to broadly elliptic (3·5–9 x 2–4·5 cm.) or ovate (3–9 x 1·5–5 cm.) to almost circular (5–7 x 4·5–6·5 cm.), chartaceous or coriaceous, rounded or usually shortly acuminate at the apex, the acumen wide and obtuse, rounded to ± cuneate at the base, brownish-green on the superior surface, green beneath, longitudinally 3(5)-nerved; midrib usually impressed above, prominent beneath; lateral nerves thinner than the midrib, arched between the insertion with the transverse ones along the distal 1/3; marginal nerves (when present) thin, arched between the transverse nerves from the base to the apex or only along the distal 1/2; transverse nerves slender, oblique; reticulation conspicuous, somewhat open; petiole 2–5 mm. long.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers

Flowers in leaf-axils or at the nodes of leafless branches, arranged in dense sessile fascicles; bracts small, scarious; pedicels c. 4 mm. long, articulate below the flower.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Young fruit globose, crowned with the c. 0·75 mm. long receptacle-lobes, becoming obovoid (9 x 7 mm.) and black at maturity.