Pouteria gardneriana (A.DC.) Radlk.
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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
Lucuma gardneriana A.DC., Lucuma lanceolata Raunk., Labatia lanceolata Engl., Labatia ciliolata Engl., Pouteria suavis Hemsl., Pouteria ciliolata (Engl.) Dubard, Labatia sapota-anguai Rojas Acosta, Labatia osteni Hassl., Pouteria salicifolia var. ciliolata (Engl.) Baehni
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Description
Species Description - Tree; young shoots sparsely pubescent with pale greyish-white to golden indumentum, soon glabrous, buff to greyish-brown, cracked and scaling, usually without lenticels. Leaves spaced or loosely clustered, 7.5-26 × 1.6-4.5(-7.5) cm, narrowly oblong, elliptic or oblanceolate, apex acute to rounded, base narrowly cuneate or attenuate, chartaceous, glabrous; venation usually eucamptodromous, rarely brochidodromous, marginal vein often present, midrib slightly raised on the upper surface, secondary veins 12-22 pairs, usually slightly convergent, arcuate or straight; intersecondaries well-developed; tertiaries forming an open reticulum. Petiole 0.2-1 cm long, not channelled, usually glabrous. Fascicles 5-15-flowered, axillary and below. Pedicel 3-7 mm long, appressed puberulous. Flowers unisexual (plant dioecious). Sepals four, 2.5-4 mm long, outer ovate or lanceolate, obtuse, inner elliptic, rounded, appressed puberulous outside, inner pair with broad glabrous margin, glabrous inside. Corolla broadly tubular, 3.5-5 mm long, tube 2.25-3.5 mm long, lobes four, 1.25-2 mm long, broadly oblong, rounded or truncate, ciliate. Stamens four, fixed halfway to two-thirds up the corolla tube; filaments 1-2 mm long, glabrous; anthers 1-1.5 mm long, ovate or lanceolate, flattened, glabrous, absent in female. Staminodes four, 0.75-1.5 mm long, oblong or lanceolate, apex rounded, ciliate. Disk absent. Ovary ovoid to globose, 2-3-locular, densely long strigose; style 2.5-3.5 mm long after anthesis, glabrous above; style-head simple. Fruit 2.5-3.5 cm long, obovoid, apex rounded, base tapering, sometimes to a short stipe ca. 5 mm long, smooth, subglabrous. Seeds 1-2, 1.9-2.4 cm long, broadly ellipsoid (plano-convex when two in a fruit), testa smooth, adherent to the pericarp, ca. 1 mm thick; scar adaxial, oblong, ca. 7 mm wide; embryo with plano-convex, free cotyledons, radicle included; endosperm absent. Field characters. Stout-trunked tree to 15 m high and 150 cm diam.; slash with small amount of white latex. Flowers greenish, fragrant, fruit ripening yellowish to red and delicately perfumed. Flowering Sep to Feb, fruit Dec-Apr.
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Discussion
The fruit is reportedly eaten in both Paraguay and Uruguay, and is said to be extremely agreeable, and also to possess digestive properties. However, the data attached to Bernardi 18469 (Paraguay) states that the natives consider it to be poisonous. The species also provides a strong flexible timber, with a beautiful pink grain (Meyer, 1947: 98).
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Common Names
Aguai, aguai-guacu, aguya
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Objects
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Distribution
NE and E Brazil from Piauí to Rio Grande do Sul, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay. It occurs in gallery forest, riverbanks and forest islands in grassland, usually near sea level, but ascending to 500 m altitude in Bahia.
Brazil South America| Bahia Brazil South America| Maranhão Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America| Piauí Brazil South America| Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| São Paulo Brazil South America| Paraguay South America| Argentina South America| Chaco Argentina South America| Corrientes Argentina South America| Entre Ríos Argentina South America| Misiones Argentina South America| Uruguay South America| Paysandú Uruguay South America|