Monographs Details – Vascular Plants of the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Monographs Details:

Authority:

Stace, C. A. & Alwan, A.-R A. 2010. Combretaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 107: 1-369. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family:

Combretaceae

Scientific Name:

Terminalia catappa L.

Synonyms:

Myrobalanus catappa (L.) Kuntze, Terminalia subcordata Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd., Terminalia catappa var. subcordata (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) DC., Terminalia intermedia (A.Rich.) Urb., Terminalia paraensis Mart.

Description:

Species Description - Evergreen to briefly deciduous tree 2-35 m. Leaves (8-)12-30(-38) × (5-)9-15(-22) cm, chartaceous, obovate to broadly so or rarely elliptic-obovate, rounded to shortly acuminate at apex, tapering to narrow, usually cordate to subcordate (rarely rounded, subtruncate or cuneate) base, glabrous adaxially, glabrous to appressed-pubescent abaxially; bowl-shaped domatia always present, in secondary and lower-order vein-axils. Venation eucamptodromous-brochidodromous; midvein stout to moderate, prominent; secondary veins 6-12 pairs, moderately spaced to distant, originating at moderately to widely acute angles, curved distally, prominent; intersecondary veins present; tertiary veins usually irregularly percurrent, often alternate and oblique; quaternary veins sometimes conspicuous; areolation randomly reticulate, imperfect or incomplete. Petiole 0.5-2.5 cm, pubescent, usually biglandular. Inflorescences (8-)13-30 cm, simple, andromonoecious, with the bisexual flowers few and near base; peduncle 3-5.5 cm, glabrous to sparsely pubescent; rhachis (5-) 10-27 cm, pubescent. Flowers pentamerous, 3-5 × 4-7 mm (male) or 6-10x4-7 mm (bisexual); lower hypanthium 3-7 mm in bisexual flowers, appressed-pubescent, usually densely so near base and sparsely so near apex; upper hypanthium 1-2 mm, cupuliform or campanulate, sparsely pubescent; calyx lobes 1-1.5 mm, erect to patent or slightly recurved when at full anthesis, nearly glabrous; disk villous; stamens 2-4 mm; style 3-3.5 mm, glabrous. Fruits few near base of rhachis, (3.5-)4-8 × 3-5.5 cm, drupaceous but rather fibrous, ovoid to ellipsoid, slightly compressed, rounded to broadly cuneate at base, acute to acuminate or stoutly beaked at apex, glabrous, with obscure to conspicuous ridge or wing to 6 mm wide along full length on each lateral edge. Reproductive biology. The inflorescences bear bisexual flowers and, therefore, fruits only near the base, with a long distal part of the rhachis with male flowers or, at siting, bare. Rowers and fruits are found throughout most the year, even in one locality. The flowers are Cream-colored and sweetly scented, but are sometimes described as yellow, white or green, or with an unpleasant smell. There is no evidence of dichogamy. The spongy fruits are well suited to water dispersal (Guppy 1917). Chromosome numbers. This species has been counted with 2n = 24 (four counts on cultivated material from Africa and India).

Discussion:

Uses. Widely grown as an ornamental and for shade, and the seeds are eaten like almonds. Leaves are reportedly used as picnic plates, but we have no evidence of use as timber.

Illustrations. Figs. la (habit), 5e (domatium), 20b (seedling), 73a (If), 74a (fr). Bot. Mag. 57: t. 3004 (1830); Brandis (1893), p. 116; Correll & Cor-rell (1982), p. 1035; Eichler (1867), fr, pl. 33; Exell (1954), pp. 566 & 557; Exell & Reitz (1967), p. 10; Proctor (1984), p. 497; Tomlinson (1986), p. 231.

Terminalia catappa is very easily recognized among American species (apart from T. latifolia) by its unwinged fibrous or slightly succulent fruits and very large obovate leaves that gradually taper to a narrow but distinctly cordate base. The leaf-base sometimes varies from cordate to rounded or cuneate but usually at least some leaves are cordate, although many herbarium specimens consist of only a single leaf because of their large size. Terminalia paraensis is a cuneate-leaved variant (see T. latifolia), and T. subcordata is an intermediate variant.

Distribution and Ecology: (Fig. 72). An ornamental introduced into the Americas certainly by the early 1800s. Terminalia subcordata was described in 1806, Bertero collected it 1816-1818 and again 1820 and 1821, Martius collected it 1817-1820, and De Candolle (1828b) stated now cultivated in the Carribean Islands. It often self-sows and and is sometimes thoroughly naturalized on marginal open ground, especially close to the sea where it may form a zone behind the mangroves; it tolerates salinity. It occurs mostly at low altitude, but to at least 1805 m, throughout the Neotropics. It appears to be much more commonly planted and naturalized in Central America and the West Indies than in South America. Graham (1964) states that it is “naturalised in scattered areas of southern Florida and the Keys, but I have seen no material so annotated from there. It is naturalized on the islands of Kauai, Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii in Hawaii (Wagner et al., 1990), but only planted in Santa Cruz, Galapagos (Wiggins & Porter, 1971), and Baja California (Wiggins, 1980). Native in tropical Asia, probably from India to the extreme southeast, and in Polynesia and northeastern Australia. Most American herbarium material does not make it clear whether the specimen came from naturalized (wild) or cultivated trees. The map omits those specimens that state a cultivated source (though many included might also be cultivated), but the list of specimens examined includes cultivated material.

Common Names:

almendro, almendrillo, amendoeira, amendoeira da praia, amendoeira da Índia, amandelboom, mantara, Indian almond, West Indian almond, Barbados almond, moena amarilla, chapéo de sol, capéu do sol, castanha da praia, castanhola, castagna de Amazonas