Sideroxylon cartilagineum (Cronquist) T.D.Penn.
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Authority
Pennington, Terence D. 1990. Sapotaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 52: 1-750. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Sapotaceae
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Scientific Name
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Synonyms
Bumelia cartilaginea Cronquist
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Description
Species Description - Small tree; young branches subglabrous, rich brown at first, becoming greyish, cracked and somewhat scaly, usually without lenticels. Simple axillary spines 0.5-1.5 cm long usually present. Leaves spirally arranged, not clustered, 1.4-6.8 × 0.7-2.8 cm, elliptic or broadly oblanceolate, apex and base acute, obtuse or rounded, glabrous, dull green; venation brochidodromous, marginal vein present, midrib not raised; secondary veins 5-9 pairs, ascending, straight, parallel; intersecondaries long; tertiaries obscure, parallel to the secondaries and descending from the margin. Petiole 2-6 mm long, not channelled, puberulous with brown hairs, soon glabrous. Flowers bisexual, axillary, 1-10 in a fascicle. Pedicel 2-4 mm long, sparsely puberulous or glabrous. Sepals five, 3-3.5 mm long, elliptic or lanceolate, acute, sparsely appressed puberulous outside, inside glabrous, usually becoming thickened at the base after anthesis. Corolla glabrous, 4.5-5 mm long, tube ca. 1.5 mm long; lobes five, median segment elliptic, apex rounded, lateral segments narrowly lanceolate, sometimes irregularly cut, 1.75-2.5 mm long. Stamens five, glabrous; filaments 2-3.5 long, anthers ca 1.5 mm long, lanceolate-sagittate. Staminodes five, 1.5-2.5 mm long, ovate or elliptic, hooded, margin erose or finely toothed, sometimes terminated by an aristate point, glabrous. Ovary globose, 5-locular, glabrous; style 3.5-4 mm long, after anthesis, glabrous; style-head simple. Fruit ca. 2 × 1 cm, ellipsoid, tapering to the apex and finally rounded, base rounded, smooth, glabrous; pericarp 1-2 mm thick, juicy. Seed solitary, ca. 1.3 × 0.8 cm, ellipsoid, with a pointed apex; testa hard, smooth, shining, 0.2-0.3 mm thick, scar cordate, basi-ventral, ca. 5 mm across; embryo vertical with plano-convex cotyledons and slightly exserted (0.75 mm) radicle; endosperm a thin sheath. Field characters. Small tree to 15 m high with white or yellowish flowers. Flowering recorded from Jan to Jun, and the single known fruiting specimen was collected in Mar.
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Distribution
Mexico from Sinaloa to Guerrero, in tropical deciduous forest and seasonal semideciduous forest (selva mediana subcaducifolia), frequently over igneous rock.
Mexico North America| Guerrero Mexico North America| Jalisco Mexico North America| Sinaloa Mexico North America|