Sideroxylon cubense (Griseb.) T.D.Penn.
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Authority
Pennington, Terence D. 1990. Sapotaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 52: 1-750. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Sapotaceae
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Scientific Name
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Synonyms
Bumelia cubensis Griseb., Bumelia cubensis var. oblongata Griseb., Dipholis cubensis (Griseb.) Pierre, Dipholis cubensis var. oblongata Pierre, Dipholis domingensis Pierre & Urb., Dipholis sintenisiana Pierre, Dipholis angustifolia Urb., Dipholis ekmaniana Urb., Dipholis leptopoda Urb. & Ekman, Bumelia cubensis subsp. ekmaniana (Urb.) Borhidi, Bumelia ekmaniana (Urb.) Bisse & J.E.Gut.
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Description
Species Description - Shrub or small tree; young branches appressed puberulous with ferruginous hairs, becoming glabrous, grey-brown, usually finely cracked, lenticellate or not. Without spines. Leaves spirally arranged, spaced, or loosely clustered at the stem apex, 22-1.1 cm × 0.6-3.4 cm, oblanceolate, obovate, cuneiform or rarely elliptic, apex rounded to truncate or retuse, rarely acute, base narrowly attenuate, chartaceous to coriaceous, margin revolute, glabrous; venation brochidodromous with a strong marginal vein, midrib flat on the upper surface; secondary veins 5-7(-9) pairs, ascending, straight, parallel; intersecondaries long; tertiaries few, obscure, descending from the margin and parallel to the secondaries. Petiole 1-5 mm long, flat or channelled, appressed puberulous to glabrous. Flowers bisexual and possibly occasionally unisexual (dioecious), axillary, fascicles 1-3-flowered. Pedicel 0.2-1 (1.9) cm long, sparsely appressed puberulous with golden-ferruginous hairs or glabrous. Sepals five, 2-2.5 mm long, ovate to elliptic, apex obtuse to rounded, appressed puberulous to subglabrous outside. Corolla glabrous, 3-4 mm long, tube 1.5-2 mm long, lobes five; median segment broadly ovate to orbicular, margin often erose; lateral segments lanceolate or irregular, usually erose, 0.5-1 mm long. Stamens fixed at the top of corolla tube or at base of lobes, glabrous; filaments 0.5-1 mm long, anthers 0.75-1 mm long, lanceolate, extrorse and ventrifixed in bud. Staminodes 0.5-1.25 mm long, ovate or triangular, fimbriate or erose, glabrous. Ovary narrowly ovoid, tapering gradually into the style, glabrous, five-locular; style 0.5-1 mm long after anthesis, glabrous; style-head simple. Fruit 0.81 cm long, broadly ellipsoid to oblong, apex acute to obtuse, base rounded, smooth, glabrous; pericarp ca. 0.5 mm thick, fleshy. Seed solitary, 0.60.85 cm long, narrowly ellipsoid to globose, usually slightly laterally compressed; testa hard, smooth, shining, thickened at the base, 0.2-1 mm thick; scar basal or basi-ventral, 1-1.5 mm diam.; embryo vertical, with thin foliaceous cotyledons and radicle exserted ca. 2 mm, surrounded by copious endosperm. Field characters. A shrub or small tree of less than 10 m. Larger specimens develop dark grey finely fissured bark, with horizontally cracked and scaly ridges. The slash exudes a small amount of white latex. The flowers are cream-white and the ripe fruit dull reddish. Most flowering occurs from Jun to Dec, but there are sporadic records outside this period. Fruiting occurs from Oct to Mar.
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Common Names
Almendro silvestre, caya de loma, cuya, Haiqui
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Objects
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Distribution
Cuba (Oriente), Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and St. Kitts. A plant of rather dry scrub or forest over limestone or serpentine rock, pine forests, occasionally in montane evergreen forest, from sea level to 2000 metres.
Cuba South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America| Barahona Dominican Republic South America| Samaná Dominican Republic South America| Puerto Rico South America| Saint Kitts and Nevis South America|