Mezilaurus

{{Short description|Genus of trees}}

{{more citations needed|date=October 2012}}

{{automatic taxobox

|image = Mezilaurus.jpg

|image_caption = Mezilaurus, Amazon river area, Peru.

|taxon = Mezilaurus

|authority = Kuntze ex Taub.

|subdivision_ranks = Species

|subdivision = See text.

|synonyms =

• Mezia Kuntze
• Menestrata Vell.
• Silvaea Meisn.

|synonyms_ref = [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:289990-2 Mezilaurus Kuntze ex Taub.] Plants of the World Online, Kew Science. Accessed 24 August 2022.

}}

Mezilaurus is a genus of plant in the family Lauraceae. It is a neotropical genus consisting of 18-27 species, mostly hardwood evergreen trees,{{cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40018309 |title= Mezilaurus|accessdate=5 August 2010 |format= |work= Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden}} occurring from Costa Rica to the southeast of Brazil (Werff 1987). Thirteen species have been identified in Brazil, distributed mostly in the Amazon region. In Rio de Janeiro state only M. navalium (Allemão) Taub. ex Mez has been recorded. Some species have been reported within the Cerrado and in semideciduous forest surrounding the Pantanal Matogrossense. The name Mezilaurus (half laurel) refers to its similar appearance to the genus Laurus.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}

The genus was described by Otto Kuntze ex Paul Hermann Wilhelm Taubert and published in Centralblatt Botanischer 50: 21 in 1892. The type species is Mezilaurus navalium (Allemão) Taub. Ex Mez.

This genus is closely related to Licaria and Aiouea.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}

Mezilaurus are monoecious{{dubious|date=October 2012}} trees or shrubs with leaves alternate, usually congested at the apex of the branches, without papillae on the abaxial epidermis. The inflorescences are panicles with racemose terminations. The flowers are bisexual,{{dubious|date=October 2012}} with a hypanthium that is narrow at the top. Uncompressed below the tepals, 6 tepals are usually erect and equal, with the inner surface without papillae. There are three fertile stamens. Stamens of the third whorl are fertile. The fruit is black, sometimes domed. The cupula when present with pateliforme summit, small in relation to the fruit, the tepals are deciduous.{{cite journal |last1=Quinet |first1=Alexandre |title=Sinopse taxonômica da família Lauraceae no Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil |trans-title=Taxonomic synopsis of the family Lauraceae in the Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil |language=Portuguese |journal=Acta Botanica Brasilica |date=September 2005 |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=563–572 |doi=10.1590/S0102-33062005000300017 |doi-access=free }}

The fruit is a berry-like drupe. Seed dispersal is mostly by birds,{{citation needed|date=October 2012}} though monkeys, porcupines and squirrels have also been observed eating the fruits.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}

This genus has some species of high commercial value, with few or no chemical or biological studies.