Monographs Details:
Authority:
Britton, Nathaniel L. Flora Borinqueña.
Britton, Nathaniel L. Flora Borinqueña.
Family:
Clusiaceae
Clusiaceae
Description:
Species Description - Highly specialized by slender, warty, aerial roots, this evergreen, resinous tree attaches itself to other kinds of trees through seeds, carried by birds, germinating on their bark, (epiphytic), and may strangle or replace them. It is widely distributed nearly all over the West Indies, and on the continent from southern Mexico to British Guiana. In Porto Rico it is frequent at lower and middle elevations, ascending to about 750 meters, and also inhabits the small islands Mona, Desecheo, Vieques and Culebra. Balsam Fig is another name for it; we have also heard it called Scotch Attorney, with fantastic reference. The reddish-brown wood is hard and durable; the large, round, nearly white fruit is inedible; it is fleshy, but splits in ripening. Clusia commemorates Charles d'Ecluse, a French botanist of the 16th Century; the genus was established by Linnaeus, and about 80 species of resinous trees and shrubs are now known, natives of tropical and subtropical America; many of them are epiphytes. Their leaves are thick, opposite, mostly smooth, and with many slender veins close together, the usually imperfect, terminal flowers clustered, or solitary; the calyx is composed of few or several separate sepals, and there are from 5 to 9 petals; the staminate flowers have many stamens, the pistillate ones have few stamens, or staminodes, a several-celled ovary, with many ovules, no style, the several stigmas radiating. The fleshy, or leathery, round fruits split into several segments when ripe, exposing the arillate seeds. Clusia rosea (rose-colored flowers, but sometimes white) may reach a height of about 20 meters, but is usually much smaller; it has smooth bark, twigs and leaves. The leathery, stiff leaves are broadest above the middle, from 10 to 15 centimeters long, with stout stalks about 1 centimeter long; they are rounded at the top and wedge-shaped at the base. The short-stalked flowers are solitary, or 2 together; the 6 rounded sepals are from 1 to 1.5 centimeters broad, the rose or white rounded petals from 3 to 5 centimeters long, broadly wedge-shaped at the base, and there are 7, 8 or 9 stigmas. The globular, nearly white fruit is from 5 to 8 centimeters in diameter. Three other species of Clusia inhabit Porto Rico, mostly growing in mountain forests.
Species Description - Highly specialized by slender, warty, aerial roots, this evergreen, resinous tree attaches itself to other kinds of trees through seeds, carried by birds, germinating on their bark, (epiphytic), and may strangle or replace them. It is widely distributed nearly all over the West Indies, and on the continent from southern Mexico to British Guiana. In Porto Rico it is frequent at lower and middle elevations, ascending to about 750 meters, and also inhabits the small islands Mona, Desecheo, Vieques and Culebra. Balsam Fig is another name for it; we have also heard it called Scotch Attorney, with fantastic reference. The reddish-brown wood is hard and durable; the large, round, nearly white fruit is inedible; it is fleshy, but splits in ripening. Clusia commemorates Charles d'Ecluse, a French botanist of the 16th Century; the genus was established by Linnaeus, and about 80 species of resinous trees and shrubs are now known, natives of tropical and subtropical America; many of them are epiphytes. Their leaves are thick, opposite, mostly smooth, and with many slender veins close together, the usually imperfect, terminal flowers clustered, or solitary; the calyx is composed of few or several separate sepals, and there are from 5 to 9 petals; the staminate flowers have many stamens, the pistillate ones have few stamens, or staminodes, a several-celled ovary, with many ovules, no style, the several stigmas radiating. The fleshy, or leathery, round fruits split into several segments when ripe, exposing the arillate seeds. Clusia rosea (rose-colored flowers, but sometimes white) may reach a height of about 20 meters, but is usually much smaller; it has smooth bark, twigs and leaves. The leathery, stiff leaves are broadest above the middle, from 10 to 15 centimeters long, with stout stalks about 1 centimeter long; they are rounded at the top and wedge-shaped at the base. The short-stalked flowers are solitary, or 2 together; the 6 rounded sepals are from 1 to 1.5 centimeters broad, the rose or white rounded petals from 3 to 5 centimeters long, broadly wedge-shaped at the base, and there are 7, 8 or 9 stigmas. The globular, nearly white fruit is from 5 to 8 centimeters in diameter. Three other species of Clusia inhabit Porto Rico, mostly growing in mountain forests.
Discussion:
Cupey Pitch-apple Clusia Family Clusia rosea Jacquin, Enumeratio Systematica Plantarum 34. 1760.
Cupey Pitch-apple Clusia Family Clusia rosea Jacquin, Enumeratio Systematica Plantarum 34. 1760.
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