Monographs Details:
Authority:
Acevedo-RodrÃguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
Acevedo-RodrÃguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
Family:
Malvaceae
Malvaceae
Description:
Species Description - Tree 5-10(-20) m tall; bark rough grayish brown; branches minutely stellate-pubescent but becoming glabrous. Leaf blades (3.3-)4.8-14.9 x 1.8-7.5 cm, oblong, ovate-oblong, or ovate, chartaceous to coriaceous, subglabrous to stellate-tomentose above, rarely glabrous, stellate-pubescent to tomentose beneath, less often puberulous or subglabrous, the apex acute to longacuminate, the base rounded to distinctly cordate, asymmetrical, the margins crenate-dentate; petioles 0-3.2 cm long, densely stellate-pubescent to tomentose; stipules 2-3 mm long, triangular to lanceolate-acuminate. Flowers in axillary cymes 15-25 mm long, with densely stellate-pubescent axes; pedicels 2.5-8 mm long. Sepals 3-3.5 mm long, ovate to elliptic ovate, densely stellate-pubescent without, more or less glabrous within, reflexed, the apex obtuse to acute; petals yellow, 3-4 mm long, obovate, the appendages purple, 5-5.5 mm long, deeply bifid; stamens fused in groups of 2 or 3, alternate, with triangular staminodes at the apex of a short staminal tube; ovary ovoid, puberulous with simple hairs, especially toward apex, style and stigma simple, ca. 1-1.5 mm long. Capsule 1.2-2.5 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm diam., oblong-ovoid to ellipsoid to subglobose-depressed ovoid, black at maturity, indehiscent or dehiscent but with valves scarcely separating, muricate, stellate-pubescent when immature, glabrescent. Seeds numerous, obovoid, 2.5-3.5 x 1.8-2 mm, obtusely angled, maculate.
Species Description - Tree 5-10(-20) m tall; bark rough grayish brown; branches minutely stellate-pubescent but becoming glabrous. Leaf blades (3.3-)4.8-14.9 x 1.8-7.5 cm, oblong, ovate-oblong, or ovate, chartaceous to coriaceous, subglabrous to stellate-tomentose above, rarely glabrous, stellate-pubescent to tomentose beneath, less often puberulous or subglabrous, the apex acute to longacuminate, the base rounded to distinctly cordate, asymmetrical, the margins crenate-dentate; petioles 0-3.2 cm long, densely stellate-pubescent to tomentose; stipules 2-3 mm long, triangular to lanceolate-acuminate. Flowers in axillary cymes 15-25 mm long, with densely stellate-pubescent axes; pedicels 2.5-8 mm long. Sepals 3-3.5 mm long, ovate to elliptic ovate, densely stellate-pubescent without, more or less glabrous within, reflexed, the apex obtuse to acute; petals yellow, 3-4 mm long, obovate, the appendages purple, 5-5.5 mm long, deeply bifid; stamens fused in groups of 2 or 3, alternate, with triangular staminodes at the apex of a short staminal tube; ovary ovoid, puberulous with simple hairs, especially toward apex, style and stigma simple, ca. 1-1.5 mm long. Capsule 1.2-2.5 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm diam., oblong-ovoid to ellipsoid to subglobose-depressed ovoid, black at maturity, indehiscent or dehiscent but with valves scarcely separating, muricate, stellate-pubescent when immature, glabrescent. Seeds numerous, obovoid, 2.5-3.5 x 1.8-2 mm, obtusely angled, maculate.
Discussion:
Theobroma guazuma L., Sp. PL 782. 1753. Guazuma guazuma (L.) Cockerell, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 19: 95. 1892.
Guazuma tomentosa Kunth in Humb., Bonpl. & Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 5: 320. 1823.
Common names: bastard cedar, jackass calalu, jackocalalu, jacocalalu, West Indian elm.
Note: Freytag (1951) distinguished G. ulmifolia from G. tomentosa on the basis of the dehiscence or indehiscence of the capsules, the degree of development of the claw of the petals, and the shape and pubescence of the leaves. However, Crist6bal (1989) noted that the only character that can reliably distinguish the two taxa is that of fruit dehiscence. Even then, it seems to be an unreliable character (Bomstein in Howard, 1989).
Distribution:
Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| West Indies|
Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| West Indies|