Pouteria sclerocarpa (Pittier) Cronquist
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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
Lucuma sclerocarpa Pittier, Calocarpum sclerocarpum (Pittier) Lundell
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Description
Species Description - Tree, young shoots subglabrous, pale buff to dark brown, often striate, smooth, lenticellate. Leaves spaced or loosely clustered, spirally arranged, 12.5-26 × 4.5-7.5 cm, oblong-elliptic to narrowly oblanceolate, apex narrowly attenuate to acuminate, base acute to narrowly cuneate, thinly or thickly coriaceous, glabrous; venation eucamptodromous, marginal vein present, midrib raised on the upper surface, secondary veins 15-16 pairs, parallel or convergent, arcuate; intersecondaries short or absent; tertiaries and quaternaries forming a reticulum. Petiole 1.6-2.5 cm long, not channelled, glabrous. Fascicles few-flowered, below the leaves. Flowers subsessile, bisexual. Sepals 6-7, arranged in a spiral, outer ca. 1.5 mm long, innermost ca. 4 mm long, ovate to suborbicular, apex obtuse to rounded, outer ones appressed puberulous outside, innermost glabrous, all densely sericeous on inside, sometimes ciliate. Corolla tubular, slightly expanded at the apex, ca. 7 mm long, tube ca. 4.5 mm long, lobes five, ca. 2.5 mm long, broadly oblong, apex rounded, glabrous. Stamens five, fixed at the top of the corolla tube; filaments ca. 0.75 mm long, glabrous; anthers ca. 1 mm long, lanceolate, glabrous. Staminodes five, ca. 2 mm long, narrowly oblong, glabrous. Disk absent. Ovary ovoid, five-locular, densely pubescent; style ca. 7 mm long after anthesis, pubescent below; style-head minutely lobed. Fruit 6-7 cm long, obovoid to broadly elliptic, rounded at apex, base rounded or broadly tapered, smooth or obscurely sulcate, thick-walled, glabrous. Seed solitary, ca. 4 cm long, broadly ellipsoid, rounded at apex and base, testa finely verruculose, or smooth, 1-2 mm thick; scar adaxial, 2-2.4 cm broad; embryo with planoconvex, free cotyledons, radicle included; endosperm absent. Field characters. Tree to 20 m high and 35 cm diam. with small buttresses and white latex. The ripe fruit is orange-red, tough-skinned, but sweet, and apparently eaten by frugivorous animals (Ducke 8593). Flowering Sep (Panama), fruit maturing May (Ecuador), Aug-Oct (Panama).
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Distribution
Scattered collections from S Panama, Colombia and Amazonian Ecuador, in wet lowland rainforest up to 400 m altitude.
Panama Central America| Darién Panamá Central America| Colombia South America| Chocó Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Napo Ecuador South America|