Schefflera systyla (Donn. Sm.) R. Vig.

Schefflera systyla (Donn. Smith) Viguier, Ann. Sci. Nat IX. 9:363. 1909.
Sciadophyllum systylum Donn. Smith, Bot. Gaz. 31: 113. 1901.
Shrub or small tree, up to 10 m. high, the young parts ferruginous-tomentellose, at length glabrous, the branchlets terete, rugose; petioles terete, 15-30 cm. long, the ligule coriaceous, oblong-lanceolate, 3-8 cm. long, deciduous; leaflets 7-9, the petiolules shallowly canaliculate, 3-6 cm. long, the blades thin-coriaceous, elongate-oblong, 12-25 cm. long, 3-8 cm. broad, obtuse or rounded at the base, caudate-acuminate at the apex (the acumen 2-4 cm. long), entire or slightly undulate at the margins (the juvenile leaflets serrate?), the costa and 12-18 arcuate-ascending lateral nerves prominent on both surfaces; inflorescence terminal, 1-3branched near the base, the branches 30-40 cm. long, the peduncles spreading, slender, 10-15 mm. long, with the pedicels deciduously tomentellose, the pedicels 7-10 per umbel, 3-5 mm. long; flowers 5-merous, the calyx carnose, obconic, at anthesis about 1 mm. long, 1.5-2 mm. in diameter, closely brownish-tomentellose, the limb membranous, truncate; bud conic, rounded at the apex, the petals submembranous, glabrous, deltoid, 1.5-2 mm. long, about 1.5 mm. broad; filaments thin-carnose, at length to 2.5 mm. long, the anthers about 1 mm. long; styles 5-7, less than 1 mm. long, coherent into a carnose column, minutely free at the apex (or not); fruit sharply angled, 2.5-4 mm. in diameter, the stylar column coriaceous, up to 2 mm. long, the styles often minutely spreading at the apex, the seeds 5-7 or fewer.
Type locality: Costa Rica. Distribution: Costa Rica, 900-1800 m.