Pouteria lucuma (Ruiz & Pav.) Kuntze
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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
Achras lucuma Ruiz & Pav., Lucuma bifera Molina, Lucuma turbinata Molina, Lucuma obovata Kunth, Lucuma obovata var. ruizii A.DC., Pouteria insignis Baehni, Richardella lucuma (Ruiz & Pav.) Aubrév., Lucuma biflora J.F.Gmel.
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Description
Species Description - Tree; young shoots puberulous to shortly pubescent, becoming glabrous, pale grey-brown, slightly roughened and scaling, lenticellate or not. Leaves clustered, spirally arranged, 6-30 × 3.115 cm, broadly oblanceolate to elliptic, apex usually obtuse, rounded or slightly emarginate, less frequently acute, base narrowly attenuate to acute, chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, glabrous above, finely puberulous (hairs crisped or appressed) below or more often glabrous; venation eucamptodromous to partly brochidodromous, midrib flat or slightly raised on the upper surface, marginal vein obscure or absent, secondary veins 9-15 pairs, parallel, straight or slightly arcuate; intersecondaries absent, tertiaries oblique; quaternary reticulum usually present. Petiole 1.3-2 cm long, not channelled, shortly pubescent. Fascicles 1-5-flowered, axillary and below the leaves. Pedicel 0.8-2.1 cm long, puberulous. Flowers bisexual. Sepals five, 0.7-1 cm long, elliptic, ovate or suborbicular, apex acute to rounded, outside puberulous, inside appressed puberulous near the apex, ciliate. Corolla cylindrical, 1-1.8 cm long, tube 0.65-1 cm long, lobes five, 4-8 mm long, oblong, apex rounded, papillose, otherwise glabrous, or occasionally with some appressed hairs on the outside of the lobes. Stamens five, fixed at the top of the corolla tube; filaments 1.5-2 mm long, geniculate at apex, glabrous; anthers 2.5-3 mm long, oblong-lanceolate, glabrous. Staminodes five 3-4.5 mm long, narrowly subulate, papillose. Disk absent. Ovary oblong-ovoid, sometimes truncate at apex, five(-six)-locular, pubescent; style 0.8-1.5 cm long after anthesis, exserted or equalling the corolla, glabrous; style-head simple. Fruit 6-12 cm long, globose, apex obtuse or rounded, base rounded or truncate, rough-skinned and densely lenticellate, glabrous. Seeds one-several, 1.8-3.5 cm long, subglobose to ellipsoid (when solitary) or shaped like the segment of an orange (when several), testa hard, smooth, shining, 0.5-0.75 mm thick; scar adaxial and sometimes extending around the base, broad, covering up to a third of the seed surface; embryo with plano-convex, free cotyledons, radicle extending to the surface; endosperm absent. Field characters. Tree to 20 m high and 30 cm diam. with dark greyish-brown fissured bark and milky white exudate. Flowers greenish-white, fruit ripening russet or yellow, rough-skinned. Flowering and fruiting throughout the year, trees often bearing fruit at all stages of development.
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Discussion
The large edible fruit is greatly appreciated by the inhabitants of the Andean altiplano, where it has been protected and cultivated for centuries.
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Common Names
Logma, lohma, louma, lucma, lucmo, lucuma, lucumo, lugma, maco, sapote mamei
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Distribution
Andean Colombia southward to N Chile, in wet montane and cloud forest, usually between 1500 and 3000 m altitude, rarely as low as 700 m.
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