Casearia aculeata Jacq.

Authority

Sleumer, Hermann O. 1980. Flacourtiaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 22: 1-499. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family

Salicaceae

Scientific Name

Casearia aculeata Jacq.

Type

Type. Jacquin anno 1757-58, Hispaniola, Haiti. No known extant authentic specimen. Lectotype: Plumier, Pl. Am. ed. Burman, p. 138, t. 147, f. 1. 1757, cited by Jacquin in 1760 and in 1763.

Synonyms

Samyda spinosa L., Samyda tomentosa Sw., Samyda multiflora Cav., Casearia hirta Sw., Casearia spinosa Willd., Casearia hirsuta var. glabrata DC., Samyda affinis Spreng., Samyda pubescens Desv. ex Ham., Casearia odorata Macfad., Chaetocrater hirtum Raf., Casearia avellana Miq., Casearia alba A.J.Richards, Casearia prunifolia Knuth, Casearia berteriana Turcz., Casearia microphylla Eichler, Casearia ramiflora var. spinosa Griseb., Casearia rufidula Triana & Planch., Casearia spinosa var. tafallana Eichler, Casearia ramiflora Vahl, Guidonia hirta (Sw.) M.Gómez, Guidonia alba (A.Rich.) M.Gómez, Casearia sylvestris Sw., Casearia oblongifolia Cambess., Casearia riparia S.Moore, Casearia spinosa var. coriacifolia Kuntze, Casearia boliviana Briq., Xylosma turrialbana Donn & Sm., Casearia obtusifolia Rusby, Casearia hassleri Briq., Casearia nicoyensis Donn.Sm., Casearia urbaniana Gand., Casearia berberoidia Rusby, Casearia aculeata var. tafallana (Eichler) J.F.Macbr., Casearia stjohnii I.M.Johnst., Casearia guianensis var. stjohnii (I.M.Johnst.) Croat, Casearia guianensis var. rafflesioides Croat, Casearia platyphylla Briq.

Description

Species Description - Shrub, sometimes scrambling or subcandent with elongate branches, though generally erect, or tree 2.0-5.0, rarely -12.0 m tall, often with strong simple or branched spines on trunk and branches; trunk up to 15.0 cm diam. Branchlets with slender axillary spines, or unarmed, young parts yellowish-hirsutulous, older ones early glabrescent and covered with gray cork and lenticels. Leaves deciduous or (semi)persistent, variable in shape, size, texture and density of tomentum, oblong to ovate-oblong or elliptic, rarely obovately so or almost rhomboidal, apex shortly attenuate or acuminate (tip acute or obtuse), rarely rounded, base cuneate in general, very base often obtuse, thin-chartaceous to subcoriaceous, densely pellucid-punctate and -lineate, glabrous on both faces from the beginning, though not rarely pubescent to tomentose (with erect hairs) when young, glabrescent with age, remotely serrate, crenate or subentire, (3.0-)4.0-8.0(-14.0) cm long, (1.5-)2.0-4.0(-5.0) cm broad, lateral nerves 4-6(-7) pairs, arcuate, prominent beneath, reticulation of veins and veinlets generally finely though well visibly raised on both faces; petiole 2.0-6.0(-8.0) mm long; stipules linear-lanceolate, densely pubescent at least initially, 1.0-1.5 mm long, caducous. Inflorescences fasciculate, from foliate or defoliate axils, 5-10(-30)-flowered; bracts numerous, scarious, ovate-acuminate, white-pubescent to -hirsute, ca 2.0 mm long, forming a cushion; pedicels articulate at or slightly below the middle, slender, more or less densely yellowish-hairy, (2.0-)4.0-6.0 mm long at anthesis, a little accrescent in fruit. Sepals 4 or 5, oblong, obtuse, erect, forming a kind of cylindrical tube slightly widened at the fused basal part, thin, white to yellowish or greenish, laxly to densely hairy or strigulose, sometimes subglabrous, 3.0-4.0 (rarely -6.0) mm long, 1.5-2.0 mm broad. Stamens (7-)8 (rarely -9), subequal; filaments glabrous, 1.5-2.0 mm long; anthers with a minute apical gland, ca 1.0 mm long. Disk-lobes clavate, villous, 1.0-1.5 mm long. Ovary ovoid, laxly hairy to villous, attenuate to a short glabrescent style; stigma capitate. Fruit subglobose, obtusely 3-gonous, glabrescent, reddish to purplish, 5.0-8.0(-10.0) mm diam; seeds (2-)3-10, ovoid-angular, ca 4.0 mm long; testa finely foveolate; aril red to orange.

Distribution and Ecology - Widespread and variable from Mexico and Antiilia to Brazil, SE Bolivia and Paraguay, possibly in Argentina (Formosa); in wet to dry forest, thickets, savannahs, cerrado, edge of pastures, in secondary growth, locally common, often forming dense tangles of spiny branches, from sea level (coral cliffs) to ca 1400 m alt.

Discussion

Comprises a number of maybe locally constant forms (ecotypes). The pubescent “hirta” phase occurs all over the area of the species which is kept here sensu lato. Host of Apodanthes caseariae Poiteau (Raffles.).

Distribution

Mexico North America| Sinaloa Mexico North America| San Luis Potosí Mexico North America| Tamaulipas Mexico North America| Nayarit Mexico North America| Jalisco Mexico North America| Colima Mexico North America| Veracruz Mexico North America| Guerrero Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Tabasco Mexico North America| Chiapas Mexico North America| Campeche Mexico North America| Quintana Roo Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Petén Guatemala Central America| Huehuetenango Guatemala Central America| Alta Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Izabal Guatemala Central America| San Marcos Guatemala Central America| Quezaltenango Guatemala Central America| Retalhuleu Guatemala Central America| Suchitepéquez Guatemala Central America| Escuintla Guatemala Central America| Santa Rosa Guatemala Central America| Belize Central America| Corozal Belize Central America| Cayo Belize Central America| Belize Belize Central America| Stann Creek Belize Central America| Toledo Belize Central America| Honduras Central America| Santa Bárbara Honduras Central America| Cortés Honduras Central America| Atlántida Honduras Central America| Morazán Honduras Central America| Olancho Honduras Central America| El Paraíso Honduras Central America| Colón Honduras Central America| El Salvador Central America| Sonsonate El Salvador Central America| La Paz El Salvador Central America| Nicaragua Central America| Granada Nicaragua Central America| Managua Nicaragua Central America| Chontales Nicaragua Central America| Río San Juan Nicaragua Central America| Costa Rica South America| Guanacaste Costa Rica Central America| Alajuela Costa Rica Central America| Puntarenas Costa Rica Central America| San José Costa Rica Central America| Cartago Costa Rica Central America| Limón Costa Rica Central America| Panama Central America| Chiriquí Panamá Central America| Colón Panama Central America| Veraguas Panama Central America| Herrera Panama Central America| Los Santos Panama Central America| Canal Zone Panamá Central America| Panamá Panama Central America| Darién Panamá Central America| Cuba South America| Piñar del Río Cuba South America| La Habana Cuba South America| Matanzas Cuba South America| Camagüey Cuba South America| Isla de Piños Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| Cayman Islands South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America| Puerto Rico South America| Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Colombia South America| Magdalena Colombia South America| Atlántico Colombia South America| Córdoba Colombia South America| San Andrés y Providencia Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America| Chocó Colombia South America| Santander Colombia South America| Cundinamarca Colombia South America| Valle Colombia South America| Tolima Colombia South America| Cauca Colombia South America| Caquetá Colombia South America| Amazonas Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Zulia Venezuela South America| Falcón Venezuela South America| Lara Venezuela South America| Trujillo Venezuela South America| Yaracuy Venezuela South America| Portuguesa Venezuela South America| Aragua Venezuela South America| Distrito Federal Venezuela South America| Miranda Venezuela South America| Delta Amacuro Venezuela South America| Barinas Venezuela South America| Mérida Venezuela South America| Apure Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Amazonas Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America| Ecuador South America| Esmeraldas Ecuador South America| Manabí Ecuador South America| Guayas Ecuador South America| Los Ríos Ecuador South America| El Oro Ecuador South America| Morona-Santiago Ecuador South America| Santiago-Zamora Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Amazonas Peru South America| San Martín Peru South America| Huánuco Peru South America| Junín Peru South America| Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Roraima Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Maranhão Brazil South America| Pernambuco Brazil South America| Acre Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America|