Malaisia Blanco

Scientific Description

Family Moraceae.

Habit and leaf form. Small trees, or shrubs, or lianas; deciduous; with coloured juice; resinous, or not resinous. Perennial. Leaves cauline. Self supporting, or epiphytic, or climbing. Mesophytic. Heterophyllous, or not heterophyllous. Leaves medium-sized to large; alternate; spiral, or distichous; leathery, or ‘herbaceous’; petiolate; non-sheathing; simple; epulvinate. Leaf blades entire; elliptic, or oblong, or ovate (but often asymmetric); pinnately veined, or palmately veined; cross-venulate; cuneate at the base to rounded at the base. Leaves with stipules. Stipules interpetiolar, or intrapetiolar; free of one another, or concrescent; ochreate, or not ochreate; small; caducous. Leaves without a persistent basal meristem. Leaf anatomy. Hydathodes present, or absent. Hairs present, or absent. Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers functionally male, or functionally female. Unisexual flowers present. Plants dioecious. Female flowers without staminodes. Male flowers with pistillodes. Anemophilous, or entomophilous.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in spikes (male inflorescences), or in heads (globular, capitate, female inflorescences). The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences axillary; inflorescences pedunculate; with involucral bracts, or without involucral bracts; pseudanthial, or not pseudanthial. Flowers sessile; bracteate (bracts succulent, hairy); small (reduced); regular; cyclic; not enclosed in the succulent receptacle. Perianth sepaline; 3–4 (partite); 1 -whorled; more or less joined. Calyx present; 3–4; gamosepalous; male flowers blunt-lobed; imbricate, or valvate; in perfect female flowers, urceolate; regular; yellow; persistent. Corolla absent. Fertile stamens present, or absent (female flowers). Androecium 3–4 (in male flowers). Androecial members free of the perianth; free of one another. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 3(–4); isomerous with the perianth; oppositisepalous; erect in bud. Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits (not dehiscing explosively); extrorse, or introrse; tetrasporangiate. Fertile gynoecium present, or absent (male flowers). Gynoecium in female flowers 2(–3) carpelled (1–2 usually abortive). The pistil 1 celled. Carpels reduced in number relative to the perianth. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious to synstylovarious; superior. Ovary unilocular; 1 locular. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 2; free to partially joined; apical, or lateral. Stigmas 2. Placentation apical, or basal. Ovules in the single cavity 1; pendulous, or ascending; anatropous to campylotropous, or hemianatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit fleshy, or non-fleshy; indehiscent; achene-like; enclosed in the fleshy receptacle, or without fleshy investment. Gynoecia of adjoining flowers combining to form a multiple fruit, or not forming a multiple fruit. The multiple fruits coalescing, or not coalescing. Dispersal unit the seed, or the fruit, or the inflorescence. Fruit 1 seeded. Seeds endospermic, or non-endospermic. Endosperm oily, or not oily. Cotyledons 1 (by suppression), or 2. Embryo straight, or curved.

Etymology. From Malaisis, the vernacular Philippine name of the species.