Narratives Details:
Title:
Crescentia cujete L.
Crescentia cujete L.
Authors:
Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne
Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne
Scientific Name:
Crescentia cujete L.
Crescentia cujete L.
Description:
Flora Borinqueña Crescentia Cujete Higuero Calabash Family Bignoniaceae Trumpet-creeper Family Crescentia Cujete Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 626. 1753. A characteristic tree of tropical America, with long, spreading, leafy branches, the leaves rather densely clustered, the large, yellow or yellowish-purple flowers usually borne solitary, mostly near the ends of the branches, followed by the globose, or ellipsoid, large, smooth, hard-shelled fruits, from which utensils are made; the tree is sometimes planted. In Porto Rico it is plentiful at lower elevations, especially in the moist or dry parts of the island, and we observed it also on the small island Desecheo in the Mona Passage; the species ranges northward into southern Florida, and is variable in the size and shape of its leaves and of its fruit. The light brown wood is tough and durable. Crescentia is a Linnaean genus, its name commemorating Petrus de Crescentius, a celebrated Italian, born in 1230; there are 5 species, all natives of tropical America, the one here illustrated typical. They have untoothed, usually clustered leaves, and solitary, or clustered, large, irregular, axillary, or lateral flowers. The calyx, closed in bud, becomes 2-parted, or 5-cleft; the corolla has a swollen, somewhat bell-shaped tube, and an oblique, variously cleft limb; the 4 stamens, in 2 pairs, are about as long as the corolla-tube, or shorter; the 1-celled ovary contains many ovules, the style is slender. The large, globose to ovoid fruit is hard-shelled, and falls to the ground without opening, containing many, flattened seeds. Crescentia Cujete (aboriginal name) may become about 10 meters high, with a trunk about 20 centimeters in diameter, but is usually smaller; the gray bark is slightly fissured; the branches and leaves are smooth. The spatulate, or oblanceolate, pointed or blunt leaves are from 5 to 15 centimeters long, narrowed to the base, and nearly stalkless. The flowers are short-stalked, the calyx 2 or 2.5 centimeters long, with blunt, or rounded lobes; the corolla is 5 or 6 centimeters long, the lobes of its limb lacerate, much shorter than the tube. The fruit, usually globose or ellipsoid in Porto Rico, ranges from 10 to 30 centimeters in diameter, brown when mature. There are 2 other species of Crescentia in the Porto Rico Flora.
Flora Borinqueña Crescentia Cujete Higuero Calabash Family Bignoniaceae Trumpet-creeper Family Crescentia Cujete Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 626. 1753. A characteristic tree of tropical America, with long, spreading, leafy branches, the leaves rather densely clustered, the large, yellow or yellowish-purple flowers usually borne solitary, mostly near the ends of the branches, followed by the globose, or ellipsoid, large, smooth, hard-shelled fruits, from which utensils are made; the tree is sometimes planted. In Porto Rico it is plentiful at lower elevations, especially in the moist or dry parts of the island, and we observed it also on the small island Desecheo in the Mona Passage; the species ranges northward into southern Florida, and is variable in the size and shape of its leaves and of its fruit. The light brown wood is tough and durable. Crescentia is a Linnaean genus, its name commemorating Petrus de Crescentius, a celebrated Italian, born in 1230; there are 5 species, all natives of tropical America, the one here illustrated typical. They have untoothed, usually clustered leaves, and solitary, or clustered, large, irregular, axillary, or lateral flowers. The calyx, closed in bud, becomes 2-parted, or 5-cleft; the corolla has a swollen, somewhat bell-shaped tube, and an oblique, variously cleft limb; the 4 stamens, in 2 pairs, are about as long as the corolla-tube, or shorter; the 1-celled ovary contains many ovules, the style is slender. The large, globose to ovoid fruit is hard-shelled, and falls to the ground without opening, containing many, flattened seeds. Crescentia Cujete (aboriginal name) may become about 10 meters high, with a trunk about 20 centimeters in diameter, but is usually smaller; the gray bark is slightly fissured; the branches and leaves are smooth. The spatulate, or oblanceolate, pointed or blunt leaves are from 5 to 15 centimeters long, narrowed to the base, and nearly stalkless. The flowers are short-stalked, the calyx 2 or 2.5 centimeters long, with blunt, or rounded lobes; the corolla is 5 or 6 centimeters long, the lobes of its limb lacerate, much shorter than the tube. The fruit, usually globose or ellipsoid in Porto Rico, ranges from 10 to 30 centimeters in diameter, brown when mature. There are 2 other species of Crescentia in the Porto Rico Flora.
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