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:
Anacardiaceae
Anacardiaceae
Description:
Species Description - Tree 10-15 m tall; bark gray to dark brown and warty; stems cylindrical with numerous whitish lenticels. Leaflets 15-19, opposite or alternate, 5-10 x 3-4 cm, falcate, elliptic-lanceolate, chartaceous, glabrous, primary veins prominent, the apex shortly acuminate, the base oblique, acute-rounded, the margins revolute, entire or crenulate, with marginal vein; petiolules ca. 5 mm long, the rachis cylindrical, not winged, minutely pubescent or glabrous, the petioles 5-10 cm long. Panicles terminal or axillary, 30-50 cm long, distinctly drooping when in fruit; bracts and bracteoles ovate to lanceolate. Flowers white or cream, fragrant; calyx lobes triangular, ca. 0.5 mm long; petals oblong to lanceolate, 2-3.5 mm long; stamens 9-10, ca. 2-3 mm long, the anthers lanceolate; ovary 5-locular, with cup-shaped, 10-lobed disk at base, the styles 5, short, erect. Fruit ellipsoid to obovoid, 3-4 cm long, yellow or light orange; stone developing only 1 seed.
Species Description - Tree 10-15 m tall; bark gray to dark brown and warty; stems cylindrical with numerous whitish lenticels. Leaflets 15-19, opposite or alternate, 5-10 x 3-4 cm, falcate, elliptic-lanceolate, chartaceous, glabrous, primary veins prominent, the apex shortly acuminate, the base oblique, acute-rounded, the margins revolute, entire or crenulate, with marginal vein; petiolules ca. 5 mm long, the rachis cylindrical, not winged, minutely pubescent or glabrous, the petioles 5-10 cm long. Panicles terminal or axillary, 30-50 cm long, distinctly drooping when in fruit; bracts and bracteoles ovate to lanceolate. Flowers white or cream, fragrant; calyx lobes triangular, ca. 0.5 mm long; petals oblong to lanceolate, 2-3.5 mm long; stamens 9-10, ca. 2-3 mm long, the anthers lanceolate; ovary 5-locular, with cup-shaped, 10-lobed disk at base, the styles 5, short, erect. Fruit ellipsoid to obovoid, 3-4 cm long, yellow or light orange; stone developing only 1 seed.
Discussion:
Common name: hog plum. Cultivated species: Spondias dulcis Sol. ex Parkinson, known as the pommecythere, and Spondias purpurea L., the purple plum, are both cultivated on St. John for their edible fruits; however, neither of them is common on the island.