Myristicaceae

Diagnosis: Trees to 40 m tall. Bark brownish to tan, peeling in small plates. Sap watery, translucent, pinkish, to blood red, astringent or bitter to the taste. Leaves alternate, spiral, with reddish-brown pubescence on the underside, especially on new growth. Inflorescence a small, axillary raceme. Flowers small with three perianth lobes (tepals). Fruits borne from the stems, green at maturity with acuminate apex, the pericarp much thicker than that of related species, Otoba parviflora. Seeds grayish to brown, much smaller than in Otoba parviflora, and covered with white, dissected aril visible at fruit dehiscence. Rare to locally common in high terrace forest.

Uses: Wood valued as lumber for house construction and carpentry. In house construction used primarily as walls and ceiling. Sap used as fungicide by local community members in Madre de Dios, Peru.

Distribution: Widespread but often locally rare in upper terrace forests throughout the western Amazon.

Ecology: Observations of monkeys consuming fruits, including "machi sapa," and others.

Notes: Often difficult to differentiate from Otoba parvifolia.