Jau Jau (Miconia galactantha)
Description
Shrub or tree, 3-10 m tall; stems, axes of inflorescences, petioles, and veins of lower leaf surfaces bearing dense, brown, stellate pubescence, the trichomes of stems, inflo-rescences, and petioles dark brown. Petioles 3-9 cm long; blades - elliptic, acuminate, narrowly rounded or sub-cordate at base, 15-33 cm long, 5-14 (21) cm wide, gla-brous above, densely matted with stellate trichomes below, denticulate; veins 5-7, from base. Panicles large, terminal, 10-15 cm long, congested toward ends of branches; flowering hypanthium oblong, much longer than broad, the hypanthium and calyx together ca 5 mm long, very densely stellate-canescent; calyx tube 1-2 .5 mm long, markedly flared, the lobes obtuse to rounded, the exterior teeth lacking; petals 5, white, obovate, 5-9 mm long, rounded to irregular at apex, densely stellate--pubescent outside, glabrous inside, often densely cili-ate with simple trichomes; stamens 10, isomorphic; anthers purplish, slightly curved, tapered toward apex, ca 4.5 (5.8) mm long, the connective pubescent with glandular trichomes, prolonged into 2 short lobes at base; style to 9 mm long, thickened at apex. Berries ca 1 cm diam at maturity, densely stellate-pubescent; seeds numerous, minute. Croat 12504. Collected near Zetek Trail 500 and 1015. Flowering in the late dry season (and probably early rainy season). The fruits develop chiefly in the late rainy season (August to November). Mexico to Peru, Bolivia, and southeast Brazil; West Indies. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Bocas del Toro, and Darien, from trop-ical wet forest in Col-n and Darien, and from premon-tane rain forest in Darien. Reported from premontane wet forest in Costa Rica (Holdridge et al., 1971).
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Myrtales
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Family: Melastomataceae
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Genus: Miconia
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