Revised treatment of the genus Lijndenia (Melastomataceae, Olisbeoideae) in Madagascar Author Stone, R. Douglas text Candollea 2017 2017-03-30 72 1 67 86 http://dx.doi.org/10.15553/c2017v721a7 journal article 10.15553/c2017v721a7 2235-3658 7182844 Typus : Lijndenia laurina Zoll. & Moritzi Shrubs or small to medium-sized trees , evergreen, glabrous; wood extremely hard; young branchlets terete to distinctly quadrangular (quadrangular-alate in L. melastomoides ). Leaves opposite, petiolate, lacking stipules, subcoriaceous to thickly coriaceous and mostly appearing granular or Table 1. – Comparison of morphology and ecogeographic distribution amongst the species of Madagascan Lijndenia Zoll. & Moritzi Habit not specified tree to 20 m tree 20 m tree 8-10 m

Nervation of leaves	apparently 1-nerved	3-nerved	apparently 1-nerved	apparently 1-nerved
Leaf blades [cm]	narrowly elliptic, mostly 5.8-6.5 × 1.9-2.4	obovate to oblanceolate or ± elliptic, mostly 5-9.5 × 2.5-4.5	elliptic to obovate, 3-5 × 1.5-3	elliptic, mostly 3.3-5.3 × 1.5-2.5
Leaf apex	distinctly and narrowly acuminate (acumen 5-12 mm)	rounded to retuse	rounded and ± retuse	shortly and obtusely acuminate (acumen mostly 3-6 mm)
Inflorescence position	in fascicles of 1-3 mostly at the leafless nodes of of older branchlets	in fascicles at the leafless nodes of older branchlets	in fascicles of 1-4 at the leafless nodes of older branchlets	in fascicles of 1-6 mostly at the leafless nodes of older branchlets
Peduncles [mm]	7-12(-15)	± absent or to c. 1	± absent or to c. 1	mostly 3-5(-8)

Petal color not specified blue to pale bluish-purple pale violet with white white margins papillose-muricate on drying (owing to the presence of ramiform sclereid idioblasts in the mesophyll); leaf-blades ± distinctly 3-nerved (= nervation strongly acrodromous), or in some of the Madagascan spp. apparently uninervate with lateral nerves intramarginal and weaker than the midnerve (= obscurely acrodromous), elliptic (to obovate or oblanceolate in some Madagascan spp.), ± distinctly acuminate at apex. Cymes borne in the leaf-axils or in fascicles at the leafless nodes of older branchlets (lower down on the trunk in L. ramiflora ), ± distinctly pedunculate (the peduncles very short to ± absent in L. laurina , L. danguyana and L. memecyloides ), umbelliform to capitellate (or 2-3X branched with secondary inflorescenceaxes up to 9 mm in L. barteri and L. brenanii ); bracts ± persistent and with a pair of bracteoles partially fused to form a cupule (false calyx) immediately subtending each individual flower. Flowers small, uniformly 4-merous, sessile or borne on long slender pedicels (the latter only in the case of the Madagascan spp.), mostly bisexual (androdioecious in L. laurina ); calyx margin ± distinctly 4-lobed (not truncate); petals mostly white (blue in most of the Madagascan spp.), spatulate to obovate or suborbicular, unguiculate at base, ± auriculate above the claw in the Madagascan spp.; anthers dolabriform, on long slender filaments; oil-gland on dorsal side of anther connective uniformly present in the Madagascan spp., variably present to reduced or absent in the remaining spp.; style slender, exserted from the corolla in bud (the flowers thus being protogynous); top of ovary lacking interstaminal partitions, the epigynous chamber thus appearing smooth; ovary unilocular, ovules 2-12. Fruits berry-like, ± globose, crowned by the persistent calyx; seeds generally solitary (occasionally 2); embryo with a short hypocotyl and leafy cotyledons, the inner cotyledon bent and rolled around the involute edge of the outer cotyledon.