Mimusops L

Trees; leaves with caducous stipules; tertiary nervation descendant, but usually lax and irregular; inflorescences clustered, axillary, manyflorous; calyx with two rows of four lobes each; corolla 8-merous, each lobe with 2 dorsal segments as long as itself; stamens epipetalous, 8, in the same row as the 8 alternipetalous staminodes; ovary usually 8-celled; cells 1-ovuled, ovules anatropous, attached at the base; fruit a berry, 1—2-seeded; seeds with a small, circular, basal scar, in which the hilum and the micropyle are placed close to one another; albumen abundant; cotyledons thin, foliaceous; radicle long, cylindrical, exsert — About 80 species in all tropical countries, except in America. In 1925, Lam (Bull. Jard. Bot. Bzg, sér. 3, 7, 1925, 235—237) described of M. elengi three varieties, var. typica, var. parvifolia and var. brevifolia and a forma longepedunculata in the type-variety. As was pointed out already by him, the differences between the two new varieties are slight, if existing at all. As those between M. elengi and M. parvifolia were obscured by many intermediate stages Lam was forced to consider the latter a variety of the former. Studying the more abundant material at our disposal it becomes clear that M. elengi is an extremely variable species in which it is impossible to distinguish varieties or forms. However, it must be pointed out that in the western parts of the Archipelago the leaves are large (up to 18 cm long), whereas they are decreasing in size towards the east, ending in the small leaves of the former species M. parvifolia (up to 6 cm long).