Pls help identify this tropical, creeping, possibly epiphytic shrub

It was originally grown from seed a couple of years ago and is now producing berries inside my terrarium. The mother plant had an about 2-3 cm thick woody trunk and was sprawled out over the mossy surface of a big rock, never lifting more than a few centimetres off the surface with a circumference of about 1 m2+. As it grows it will raise itself up some, but soon wont be able to support the growth as it elongates, thus creeping low to the ground.

It grows slowly, sports opposite leaves, bifurcating after every few leaf-pairs. The small flowers initially grow in a hanging position as a single flower in every bifurcation.

Those pollinated will grow a small orange berry, not too dissimilar to a small blueberry, containing a number of seeds. I have not counted them, but i think it was about 6-10 seeds per berry.

I think its a terrific plant for any terrarium, but not knowing the species or even just the genus irks me to no end. I would really appreciate any help.

 

Since checked my germination box, i can now say, it was exactly 6 seeds.

i have tried using AI to no avail. These are the results that sadly did not help me find the genus.

"The Key's Ultimate Verdict
When tracking an inferior-ovary orange berry with an apical rim ("blueberry shape"), opposite leaves, and a 4-merous flower, the key firmly routes us to the Rubiaceae (Coffee/Madder) family or specialized elements of the Phyllanthaceae family (which look like opposite leaves but are technically distichous). [1, 2, 3]
Given your highly specific personal observation of the 6 pink-tipped fingers in a closed fist paired with exactly 6 seeds, the key points to three highly obscure, localized candidate paths that are primarily preserved in academic or tropical botanical collections:

• Path A: A specialized tropical Breynia or Phyllanthus ally (Phyllanthaceae)
  Some creeping tropical species (like variants related to Breynia oblongifolia aggregates) feature oval leaves near your exact 3 cm × 2 cm dimensions, solitary axillary positions, and bright orange-to-red berries with exactly 6 seeds (from a 3-celled ovary with 2 ovules each). Their reproductive organs feature tightly clustered styles/stamens that protrude like tiny fingers. However, their "petals" are technically 6 fused tepals/segments rather than 4 distinct white rhomboid petals. [1]
• Path B: An atypical, localized Amaracarpus or Saprosma species (Rubiaceae)
  These are small, tropical floor shrubs with bifurcating branches, solitary axillary flowers, and fleshy orange drupes. Certain species break the standard 4-stamen rule of the family, featuring exserted, highly clustered pinkish anthers and styles that match your "fist" description. They also feature multi-seeded pyrenes that can hit exactly 6.
• Path C: An undescribed or hybrid collection specimen
  As you noted that the country of origin is unknown but the specimen is in active botanical collections, it is highly possible this is a rare regional endemic (potentially from the limestone karsts of Southeast Asia or New Guinea) that sits as a niche species within a larger genus."

 

Cynanchum ellipticum?
Clusia?
Rhizophora (Mangrove)?
https://www.google.com/search?q=mangrove+flower&sa=X

 

nope, none of those, the flower morphology is wrong with all of them, but thanks for trying

will try to get a better picture of the berry next time

 

Alyxia?

 

Get good pictures of flowers too, please.

 

5 petals again, i was struggling to get the AI not to ignore one feature over another.

humans would not make that kind of mistake, but on the other hand it takes way more knowledge than i personally have to properly use an identification key. not to mention finding the right plant key.

i will try, not sure if the pictures get any better since they are so small.

 

Sadly there is currently no open flower on the plant, but i got a developing one and took a few pictures of a rejected one. once with the petals and once with the petals removed. my phones starting to hit its limits though.




I cant quite tell with the naked eye, but it could be a cluster of 6 tube like structures.

 

Alyxia with 4 petals:
Alyxia stellata | maile

 

AI overview:
"The genus Alyxia belongs to the Dogbane plant family (Apocynaceae). While these evergreen shrubs and vines most often have five petals, certain specific types can commonly feature four petals. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Popular Types of Alyxia with Four Petals

• Maile (Alyxia stellata): This is a famous woody vine from Hawaii used to make traditional leis. Its small, fragrant, yellowish-white flowers usually have four petals. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Sea Box (Alyxia buxifolia): A tough coastal shrub native to Australia. Its tubular, white, and highly fragrant flowers commonly have four to five lobes (petals). [1, 2]"

Leaves resemble more of A. Buxifolia. I would not suggest, that this is it, but there could be more Alyxia species with 4 petals.

 

Could you, please describe, what are the main morphological differences from for instance Black mangrove flower?
Black mangrove flowers | Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

 

There are ca 400 species of Clusias. Many have 6 petals, some have 5 petals, I would not be surprised, if there was an endemic Clusia somewhere with 4 petals. Leaves of many Clusias are pretty similar to the plant on your photo. Flower size and look varies often a lot even between the species of the same genus.

 

Sandalwood?

 

alright, so the plant first of all is a dicotyledon, its growing with paired opposite leaves, with bifurcating branches and solitary individual flowers growing from the axilla of said branchpoints.

thats the basic structure. now the general growth habit could be totally different from other members of its family or genus but these should probably be consistent.

the flowers are too small to properly see without a microscope or other types of magnification, but seem to sport a lower elongated structure not unlike a tongue that could be the stigma and 6 upper finger like structures resempling pink tipped fingers in the shape of a fist. It could be the anthers but to be honest these are all too small to judge. Since the berry had 6 seeds inside it should have at least 6 ovaries/ovarioles and since there were 6 finger like structures it would make sense for it to correspond to the numer of ovaries.

all these sit in the center of an apical calyx together with 4 petal like structures. honestly it can be very hard to tell if an anatomical feature like a petal is a true petal or not, but for lack of knowlege on my part i will designate it as such.

all of the flowers structures protrude well past the open petals.

you can see the pictures, those do not resemble Clusia flowers at all. all these seem radially symetrical while the flower in my case is not, it has a distinkt bilateral symetry. i wont exclude them since i am not nearly knowlegable enough, but i find it unlikely to be a clusia.

i do agree that the leaves look very similar, but thats really not a good feature to go by in most cases.

in terms of the black mangrove flower you can clearly see that the petals? are fused at the base, rather than individual petals, they also produce a very different kind of fruit. Also there seem to be 4 stamens rather than 6. All in all very different despite the superficial reseblance.

 

perhaps "shrub" is misleading, as i suspect that mother plant was very old. In its current form its more like a herbaceous creeper that has the potential to become woody. where does one draw a line here?

 

The number of petals is a poor characteristic, especially if just a single flower is available as a sample.
Here seems to be a Clusia with 4 petals:
Clusia dotana. A staminate flower; B pistillate flower (B. Hammel... | Download Scientific Diagram
Clusias have rather large variability of flower sizes too, the known Clusia species with the smallest flowers has just 2...5 mm in flower diameter and happens to have 4 petals.
https://media.springernature.com/lw...-1/MediaObjects/12228_2019_9580_Fig3_HTML.jpg
I agree, that the structure of the flower is still different from the flower on your photo, but it is also very different from most of other Clusias. I have no idea, how large is the total flower structural variability between all different Clusias.

 

The new growth is protected by what looks to be a tubular stipule scale known as ochreate, together with the other characteristics that apparently that means it belongs into the Anthospermeae/Psychotrieae alliance within the family of Rubiaceae.

I think that's probably the furthest i will get identifying this. I will post further pictures if i manage to get some relevant ones and in the meantime any help is welcome.

 

lifting the finger like structures up and letting them snap back down releases a shower of pollen that likely self-fertilises the lower stigma of the flower.

in this case it looks like there are 8 stamens/fingers, perhaps the first flower pictured had already lonst some of them.

 

Indoor growth environments can mislead as to "true" growth forms when compared to outdoor sun grown plants. Things like etiolation can be quite typical in such low-er- light environments. The fact it flowers and fruits is promising that it could be a normal environment in which it can reproduce. However I would probably only believe that if it has grown in said environment for a full year plus. Cuttings from mature plants grown in artificial environments can sometimes still fruit as a "last ditch effort" and give false hope.

 

true, but as i said it was grown from seed, rather than beeing a cutting, and apart from the size of the plant it does resemble the overall growth pattern. Considering the growth rate i assume the mother plant was well over 30 years+ old. I now have another 6 little seedlings to observe, so hopefully some of them will make it through the future repots from moss to soil.