Saurauia merrillii | |
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Herbarium specimen of Saurauia merrillii. [1] | |
Scientific classification
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Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Ericales |
Family: | Actinidiaceae |
Genus: | Saurauia |
Species: | S. merrillii
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Binomial name | |
Saurauia merrillii |
Saurauia merrillii is a species of plant in the family Actinidiaceae. It is native to the Philippines. [2] Adolph Daniel Edward Elmer, the American botanist who first formally described the species, named it in honor of Elmer Drew Merrill, another American botanist.
It is a bush reaching 3 meters in height. Its membranous leaves are variable in size, but generally 15 by 4 centimeters. The tips of the leaves come to a point that curves backwards. The leaves are paler on their lower surface which has brown hairs. The leaves have 9-13 pairs of secondary veins emanating from their midribs. Its bristly petioles are 5-25 millimeters long. Inflorescences are pendulous and are axillary or emerge beneath leaves. The inflorescences are organized as panicles of about 6 flowers on a 3-5 centimeter long peduncle. Its flowers have male and female reproductive structures. Its flowers have 5 oblong sepals that are 5 millimeters in length, and fused at their base. The sepals have patch of 3 millimeter long hairs in the middle of their outer surface. Its white corolla is 7 millimeters long and united at its base. Its flowers have up to 18 stamens with 2.56 millimeters long filaments and anthers that are yellow and 2 by 0.75 millimeters. Its flowers have 3 smooth styles that are 3 millimeters long and united at their base. Its fertilized ovaries smooth on the outside, with three hairy chambers that contain clusters of seeds. [3]
The pollen of Saurauia merrillii is shed as permanent tetrads. [4]