Annona rigida explained

Annona rigida is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to Brazil and Colombia.[1] Robert Elias Fries, the Swedish botanist who first formally described the species, named it after its rigid (Latin: rigidus in Latin) leaves.[2]

Description

It is a bush. Its rigid, oblong, yellow-green leaves are 12-20 by 3-5 centimeters, hairless and have pointed tips. Its solitary flowers are on thick, rigid pedicels that are 0.5-1 centimeter long with a 3-5 millimeter oval bract near their base. Its oval to triangular sepals are 4-5 millimeters long, recurved and come to a point at their tip. It has two rows of petals. The oval, wrinkled, warty outer petals are 3 by 2 centimeters. The outer petals have margins that touch but are not fused. The outer surface of the inner petals is covered in dense woolly hairs. Its stamen are 5 millimeters long. Its immature fruit are round with a diameter of 2–3.5 centimeters and covered in conical projections. Its flowers have numerous carpels.[3]

Reproductive biology

The pollen of A. rigida is shed as permanent tetrads.[4]

Distribution and habitat

It grows in the Amazon rainforest.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Annona rigida R.E.Fr. . . n.d. . Plants of the World Online . The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . July 24, 2019. .
  2. Book: Stearn, William . Botanical Latin . Timber Press David & Charles . Portland, Ore. Newton Abbot . 2004 . 9780881926279 .
  3. Fries . Rob. E. . 1957 . New Species of Annonaceae from the Upper Amazon Basin . English, Latin . Arkiv för Botanik . 3 . 18 . 599–606.
  4. Walker . James W. . 1971 . Pollen Morphology, Phytogeography, and Phylogeny of the Annonaceae . 41764703 . Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University . 202 . 202 . 1–130.
  5. Web site: Annona rigida R.E.Fr. . . Flora do Brasil 2020 . Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro . July 24, 2019.