Myrcia garuvana

Description: — Trees to 6 m high, the trunk to 20 cm of diameter at body heigth. Plants glabrous or with very scarce dibrachiate trichomes to 0.1 mm scattered along the petioles and abaxial side of blades. Twigs grey when dry, frequently dichotomously branched, terete or more or less applanate, 20 – 25 × 0.8 – 1 mm in diameter (keels not included), with two evident longitudinal keels 0.2 – 0.5 mm wide. Leaves with petioles 5 – 6 × 0.7 – 1 mm, adaxially sulcate; blades elliptic or occasionally obovate, 28 – 53 × 10 – 25 mm, 2 – 2.8 times longer than wide, the surface undulate and discolorous, dull green adaxially and light green abaxially when dry; glandular dots to 0.1 mm in diameter and 10 – 20 / mm ², slightly excavated adaxially, darker than the surface and slightly raised abaxially; base cuneate, slightly decurrent along the petiole; apex acuminate in 3 – 7 mm, 10 – 15 % of the blade’s length; midvein impressed adaxially and prominent abaxially; lateral veins 20 – 25 at each side, scarcely visible on both surfaces, sometimes finely raised abaxially; intramarginal vein 0.4 – 0.8 mm from the margin, the margin itself somewhat revolute. Inflorescences 1 – 3 - flowered, the flowers crowded at the apex of a peduncle 15 – 18 × 0.3 – 0.4 mm; bracts not seen; pedicels absent; bracteoles not seen, probably decidous before anthesis; flower buds globose to ovate, 2 – 3 × 1.2 – 1.6 mm, with calyx lobes completely fused and opening through a calyptra 1 – 2 mm, deciduous after anthesis, the apex of the calyptra with an apiculum 0.4 – 1 mm; petals absent in the flowers examined; stamens with filaments to 2 mm, the anthers to 0.3 × 0.4 mm, eglandular; staminal ring 1.5 – 1.6 mm in diameter; calyx tube to 1 mm deep; style to 3 mm, the stigma punctiform; ovary bilocular with two ovules per locule. Fruits dark-blue or black when ripe, globose, ellipsoid or slightly oblate, 7 – 8 × 8 – 10 mm, 1 – 2 - seeded, crowned by the calyx tube; seeds globose to hemispheric, 6 – 7 × 5 mm and 2 – 3 mm thick, protected by an easily detachable, membranous, light-brown testa; embryo to 5 × 4 mm and 2 mm thick, with two folded cotyledons surrounded by an evident hypocotyl.