Mischogyne elliotiana is a species of plant in the Annonaceae family. It is native to Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Zaire.[1] Adolf Engler and Ludwig Diels, the German botanists who first formally described the species using the basionym Uvaria elliotiana, named it after George Scott-Elliot the botanist who collected the specimen they examined.[2]
It is a bush reaching 4-7 meters in height. Its elliptical leaves are 8-17 by 4-8 centimeters. Its hairless leaves are wedge shaped at their point of attachment and come to a long tapering point at their tips. The leaves have a papery to leathery texture and are glossy green on their upper side and lighter on their underside. The leaves have 7-13 pairs of secondary veins emanating from either side of their midribs. Its hairless petioles are 5-7 millimeters long. Its flowers are solitary or in groups of 2-4. The flowers are on 0.7-1.5 centimeter pedicels that are covered in fine hairs and occur in axillary positions. The pedicels are subtended by a small bract. Its oblong sepals are 10 by 3.5-4 millimeters, covered in fine hairs on both sides, and come to a shallow point at their tips. Its flowers have 6 white petals arranged in two rows of three. The outer, oblong petals are 15 by 3-4 millimeters, and covered in woolly hairs on both sides. The inner petals are slightly shorter. Its flowers have cylindrical receptacles that are 3-4 millimeters long. Its flowers have numerous oblong stamens that are 2-2.5 millimeters long. The tissue that connects the theca is hairy an terminates in a tuft of hairs at the top of the anthers. Its flowers have 4-5 oblong, carpels that are 5-7 millimeters long and covered in hairs. Its stigmas are bilobed. The carpels contain numerous ovules in two rows. Its are green to yellow with white spots, 6-10 by 4-6 centimeters, and have a contour that is constricted around the seeds. Its fruit have 6-12 seeds that are 2-2.8 by 1.2-1.5 by 0.3-0.5 centimeters, arranged in 1 or two rows. The seeds are flat on one side, semi-circular on the opposite side, and covered in a white membrane.[3] [4]
The pollen of M. elliotiana is shed as permanent tetrads.[5]
It has been observed growing in evergreen or semideciduous forests that receive 100-400 centimeters of rain per year.[4]
Gosline and colleagues report the white flesh of the fruits as being edible.[4]