Xylosma flexuosa (Kunth) Hemsl.
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Authority
Sleumer, Hermann O. 1980. Flacourtiaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 22: 1-499. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Salicaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Bonpland 4415, Mexico, Veracruz, Xalapa, fl [male] (holotype, P).
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Synonyms
Flacourtia flexuosa Kunth, Flacourtia celastrina Kunth, Hisingera puberula Schltdl. & Cham., Prockia obovata C.Presl, Hisingera nitida Hell., Hisingera celastrina (Kunth) Clos, Hisingera cinerea Clos, Hisingera flexuosa (Kunth) Clos, Hisingera obovata (C.Presl) Clos, Hisingera paliurus Clos, Xylosma seemannii Triana & Planch., Flacourtia cinerea Kunth ex Hemsl., Xylosma cinerea (Clos) Hemsl., Xylosma nitida (Hell.) A.Gray ex Griseb., Myroxylon celastrinum (Kunth) Kuntze, Myroxylon cinereum (Clos) Kuntze, Myroxylon flexuosum (Kunth) Kuntze, Myroxylon paliurus (Clos) Kuntze, Xylosma pringlei B.L.Rob., Myroxylon pringlei (B.L.Rob.) Warb., Myroxylon nitidum (Hell.) Kuntze, Xylosma palmeri Rose, Xylosma salzmannii (Clos) Eichler, Xylosma paliura (Clos) Briq., Xylosma celastrina (Kunth) Standl. & Steyerm., Xylosma anisophylla Standl., Xylosma blepharodes Lundell, Xylosma arnoldii Monach.
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Description
Species Description - Shrub or tree, 2.0-6.0, rarely -12.0 m high; trunk rarely up to 40.0 cm diam, usually armed with strong compound spines; branches with simple spines up to 4.5 cm long. Branchlets slender, flexuous, tips puberulous or glabrous, older parts whitish-grayish-corticate, laxly lenticellate; axillary spines up to 1.5 cm long. Leaves alternate or not rarely borne in fascicles at the end of short pseudobranches, considerably variable in form, size, texture and dentation maybe upon a single plant, usually elliptic or obovate, (generally narrowly so), or ovate-elliptic, or rarely rhombic-ovate, apex subacuminate or obtuse, sometimes rounded, maybe even a little retuse, base attenuate to cuneate, very base often obtuse, rarely rounded, rigid-chartaceous to (sub)coriaceous, lustrous above, dull beneath, glabrous or very rarely short-pubescent at midrib and lateral nerves beneath, then glabrescent, margin generally hardly or not revolute, usually rather sharply glandular-crenate-serrate (more deeply so in sterile offshoots), rarely subentire, 2.5-6.0(-8.0, very rarely -10.0) cm long, (1.0-)1.5-3.0(-4.5, -6.0) cm broad, lateral nerves (5-)6-8 (rarely -10) pairs, generally markedly raised on both faces as is the more or less dense reticulation of veins and veinlets; petiole rather robust, (1.0-)3.0-5.0(-7.0) mm long. Flowers dioecious, though occasionally [female] ones with a few staminodes around the ovary may occur, 4-8(-12) together in short contracted racemes or in fascicles both from foliate and defoliate axils; bracts narrow-ovate, puberulous, 1.0-1.5 mm long; pedicels articulate a little above base, slender, glabrous or puberulous, 2.0-6.0 mm long. Sepals 4 or 5, ovate or narrowly so, subacute, greenish, yellowish or white, subglabrous or usually puberulous on both faces, ciliolate, (1.0-)1.5-2.0 mm long, 1.0-1.5 mm broad. Disk-lobes ca 8, more or less fused into a crenate annulus, [male]: stamens 16-20(-30); filaments very slender, glabrous, 2.5-4.0 mm long. [female]: ovary oblong-ovoid, glabrous; style very short, stigmatic lobes 2 or 3, flattened, recurved, often irregularly lobed. Fruit globose, red, 5.0-6.0 mm diam, on pedicel elongated to 10.0 mm and articulate ca 2.0 mm above base; seeds -6, ovoid-angular, 3.0-4.0 mm long.
Distribution and Ecology - From S Texas to Panama, Venezuela (Falcón, Lara; also in Merida?), on Curaçao; in mixed wet or dry (seasonal) forest or thickets, also in Pine-Oak-forest, not rarely in secondary growth, invading overgrazed land, along roadsides, from lowland to 1800 (rarely -2500) m alt.
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Discussion
Xylosma flexuosum is conceived here in a broad sense; it comprises numerous local, probably ecologically generated forms, flexible or adaptable as the species to be, to a broad scale of different habitats. Close to Xylosma benthamii.
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Distribution
United States of America North America| Texas United States of America North America| Mexico North America| Sonora Mexico North America| Sinaloa Mexico North America| San Luis Potosí Mexico North America| Nuevo León Mexico North America| Tamaulipas Mexico North America| Nayarit Mexico North America| Jalisco Mexico North America| Colima Mexico North America| Michoacán Mexico North America| Querétaro Mexico North America| Hidalgo Mexico North America| México Mexico North America| Morelos Mexico North America| Puebla Mexico North America| Veracruz Mexico North America| Guerrero Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Tabasco Mexico North America| Chiapas Mexico North America| Campeche Mexico North America| Yucatán Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Petén Guatemala Central America| Huehuetenango Guatemala Central America| Alta Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Izabal Guatemala Central America| San Marcos Guatemala Central America| Zacapa Guatemala Central America| Quezaltenango Guatemala Central America| Retalhuleu Guatemala Central America| Suchitepéquez Guatemala Central America| Sololá Guatemala Central America| Escuintla Guatemala Central America| Chimaltenango Guatemala Central America| Sacatepéquez Guatemala Central America| Guatemala Guatemala Central America| Santa Rosa Guatemala Central America| Jutiapa Guatemala Central America| Jalapa Guatemala Central America| Chiquimula Guatemala Central America| Belize Central America| Honduras Central America| Santa Bárbara Honduras Central America| Cortés Honduras Central America| Copán Honduras Central America| Intibucá Honduras Central America| Comayagua Honduras Central America| Morazán Honduras Central America| Olancho Honduras Central America| El Paraíso Honduras Central America| Choluteca Honduras Central America| El Salvador Central America| Ahuachapán El Salvador Central America| Santa Ana El Salvador Central America| Sonsonate El Salvador Central America| La Libertad El Salvador Central America| San Salvador El Salvador Central America| San Vicente El Salvador Central America| Morazán El Salvador Central America| Nicaragua Central America| Jinotega Nicaragua Central America| Madriz Nicaragua Central America| Matagalpa Nicaragua Central America| Managua Nicaragua Central America| Granada Nicaragua Central America| Zelaya Nicaragua Central America| Chontales Nicaragua Central America| Costa Rica South America| Guanacaste Costa Rica Central America| Alajuela Costa Rica Central America| Heredia Costa Rica Central America| San José Costa Rica Central America| Cartago Costa Rica Central America| Limón Costa Rica Central America| Panama Central America| Chiriquí Panamá Central America| Colón Panama Central America| Coclé Panamá Central America| Herrera Panama Central America| Panamá Panama Central America| San Blás Panama Central America| Venezuela South America| Falcón Venezuela South America| Lara Venezuela South America| Curaçao South America|