Esenbeckia hartmanii Robinson & Fernald

Authority

Kaastra, Roelof C. 1982. A monograph of the Pilocarpinae (Rutaceae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 33: 1-198. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family

Rutaceae

Scientific Name

Esenbeckia hartmanii C.B.Rob. & Fernald

Type

Type. C. V. Hartman 240, Mexico. Sonora: La Tinaja, 19 Nov 1890, fr (holotype, GH, photo, DS; isotypes, K, NY 2x, US).

Description

Species Description - Usually a small, stiff-branched polypodial shrub, or a treelet to 5 m tall with stem 15-25 cm in diam., with light gray bark; branchlets 3-7 mm in diam., dark grayish, minutely pubescent with hairs 0.2-0.3(-0.5) mm long, becoming glabrous. Leaves alternate, simple; petiole semiterete, 0.2-0.8(-1.2) cm long, densely minutely pubescent with hairs 0.2-0.5 mm long; blade (narrowly) (sub)obovate, 1-7(-8) × 0.5-2.7(-1) cm, at base cuneate or acutish and slightly unequal, at apex emarginate, rounded, or retuse, the margin flat or subrevolute, the blade subcoriaceous, dull green on both sides, above subglabrous or puberulous but minutely pubescent with hairs 0.3 mm long on the lower part of the costa and at base, pubescent below with hairs to 0.4(-0.6) mm long, venation camptodromous, prominent on both sides, costa plane above. Inflorescences terminal, erect, paniculate, 2-5(-8) × 2-5(-6) cm, densely minutely pubescent with hairs 0.2-0.3 mm; side-branchlets alternate; lower bracts persisting into anthesis, leaf-like, narrowly (sub)obovate, to 3 × 1 mm, minutely pubescent; upper bracts like the 2 bractlets deciduous before anthesis, elliptic, shorter than the lower ones; pedicels to 8 mm long. Flowers 12-14 mm in diam.; calyx lobes quincuncial, broadly to depressedly ovate, 1.5-1.8 × 1.7-2.2 mm, rounded at tip, coriaceous, minutely pubescent below with hairs 0.2-0.5 mm long or nearly glabrous, venation parallel, the nerves branched towards the margin; petals persistent, cochlear, adnate to the disc at base, very widely spreading, elliptic or (sub)obovate, 4.5-5.5 × 3-4 mm, rounded at tip, papery with thin margin, white or somewhat yellowish when fresh, pale yellowish when boiled, papillose above, the indument below like that on calyx, venation actinodromous, the nerves branching towards the margin; filaments persistent, adnate to the disc at base, subulate, 4-5 mm long and 0.50.7 mm thick, glabrous; anthers heart-shaped to ovoid, (1.4-) 1.6-1.7 × 0.9-1.1 mm, including a tip 0.2 mm, papillose; disc rosette-like, with ± 10 irregular, slight incurvations, 0.4-1 mm high and 3-3.5 mm in diam., thickly fleshy, glabrous; carpels proximally adnate to the disc, 0.4-0.6 mm high, densely beset with thick conical to pear-shaped protuberances 0.3-2 mm long occasionally charged at tip with a hyaline hair to 0.3 mm long; style inserted on the lower half of the carpels, contorted when dry, 4.2-4.5 mm long, the free part 3.2-4- mm long and 0.4-0.5 mm thick, glabrous; stigma capitate, slightly and irregularly lobed or 5-lobed, 0.3 × 0.3-0.5 mm. Fruits to ±3 per infructescence; 1 or more loculi frequently not developed, depressed, stellately-globose, 1.2-1.4 × 2-2.5 mm, to 3 cm broad when dehisced; loculi globose, rounded on the back, glabrous, muricate with short, rather sharp broad-based prickles 1-3 mm long, septicidally dehiscent from 2 mm above base to 2 mm from tip, and loculicidally dehiscent to 2-3 mm above base, eventually widely spreading, the nerves on the inside of the exocarp reticulate; endocarp very thin, often irregularly ruptured upon dehiscence; seed 1 per loculus, obliquely subglobose 8-9 × 8-10 × 8-10 mm, with a straight, blunt or very short mucronate apex, testa 0.5 mm thick, dark brown, shining, linear-colliculate 0.2-0.3 × 0.05 mm, and colliculate 0.05 mm in diam., the interspaces parallel together in patches; chalazal area not visible; hilum 2.5-3 mm broad; embryo 1, cotyledons unequal with ears to 0.5 mm, radicle 0.5 mm long not projecting beyond the ears, plumule 0.2 mm long.

Discussion

The endocarp is distinctly thinner than in other Esenbeckia species, but is still cartilaginous.

Common Names

sámota, crucecilla

Distribution

Mexico, Sonora and Sinaloa. Dry areas in littoral dunes, lava fields, coastal plains on heavy clay soil, granitic slopes, thickets and thorn forests, sometimes transitional to desert; alt. 30-1100 m. Flowering Jun-Jul. Fig. 20A.

Mexico North America| Sonora Mexico North America| Sinaloa Mexico North America|