Pradosia surinamensis (Eyma) 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
Pouteria surinamensis Eyma
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Description
Species Description - Tree; young shoots finely appressed puberulous, soon glabrous, grey-brown, rough and sometimes scaling, lenticellate. Leaves spaced or loosely clustered, spirally arranged, 5.5-13.2 × 2.2-5.4 cm, elliptic or oblanceolate, apex acute to obtuse, barely rounded, base acute, coriaceous, glabrous; venation eucamptodromous, marginal vein present, midrib sunken on the upper surface, secondary veins 9-14 pairs, parallel, slightly arcuate, slightly impressed on the upper surface; intersecondaries absent; tertiaries fine, oblique to reticulate. Petiole 0.8-1.2 cm long, channelled, glabrous. Fascicles few-flowered, below the leaves. Pedicel 0.5-2 mm long, appressed puberulous. Sepals five, ca. 1.5 mm long, ovate, apex obtuse or rounded, sparse minute appressed hairs outside, glabrous inside. Corolla ca. 2.5 mm long, tube 1-1.25 mm long, lobes five, 1.25-1.5 mm long, oblong-ovate, apex obtuse, appressed puberulous on outside of tube, glabrous inside. Stamens five, fixed at the top of the corolla tube; filaments ca. 1 mm long, glabrous; anthers ca. 0.75 mm long, lanceolate, glabrous. Ovary ovoid, five-locular, appressed puberulous; style ca. 0.75 mm long after anthesis, glabrous; style-head simple or minutely lobed. Fruit 2-4 cm long, ellipsoid, apex obtuse, base slightly tapered, smooth, finely appressed puberulous, becoming glabrous. Seed solitary, 1.6-2.5 cm long, oblong-elliptic, slightly laterally compressed, testa smooth, shining, 0.3-0.4 mm thick; scar adaxial, full-length, 4-9 mm wide; embryo with plano-convex, free cotyledons, radicle extending to the surface; endosperm absent. Field characters. Tree to 32 m high and 80 cm diam., larger specimens buttressed to 1 m, bole fluted, with small dark brown bark, and sparse white latex. Flowers greenish-yellow, fruit yellow. Flowering Jan-Mar (Surinam, Guyana, Brazil: Roraima), Aug (Brazil: Pará), fruit recorded Feb, Apr, Jul, Aug, Nov.
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Discussion
The ripe fruit is edible. In S Guyana the Wapisiana Indians suck small pieces of the bark to cure colds and chest congestions.
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Common Names
chupón, gateado, widieko, xixiro, yoron
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Objects
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Distribution
Venezuela (Bolívar), Surinam, Guyana and Brazil (Roraima and Pará), in lowland forest on non-flooded land, ascending to 600 m altitude in Venezuela. In Pará, Brazil, it also occurs in dry "campinarana" forest.
Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Guyana South America| Suriname South America| Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Roraima Brazil South America|