Pouteria torta (Mart.) Radlk.

  • Authority

    Pennington, Terence D. 1990. Sapotaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 52: 1-750. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Sapotaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Pouteria torta (Mart.) Radlk.

  • Description

    Species Description - Young shoots appressed or spreading pubescent, crisped or stiffly tomentose, or hispid-tomentose, becoming glabrous, pale greyish to midbrown, cracked and scaling, without lenticels. Leaves clustered, spirally arranged, 7-45 × 3.1-15(—17) cm, oblanceolate, with or without a long tapering base, apex narrowly attenuate to obtusely cuspidate, rounded or emarginate, base acute or narrowly cuneate to rounded or truncate, chartaceous to coriaceous, glabrous above or with some indumentum along the midrib, pubescent or tomentose below with crisped hairs, or with stiff erect two-branched hairs, or glabrous; venation eucamptodromous, or sometimes brochidodromous in the lower half, marginal vein present, midrib not or slightly raised on the upper surface, sometimes recessed, secondary veins 14-25(-37), pairs, parallel, straight or slightly arcuate; intersecondaries short or absent; tertiaries reticulate to oblique, often close and numerous; quaternaries coarsely to finely reticulate. Petiole 0.4-6.5 cm long, weakly to strongly channelled, appressed or spreading pubescent, crisped or stiffly tomentose, sometimes becoming glabrous. Fascicles few-flowered, usually clustered below the leaves. Pedicel 0-2 mm long, appressed or spreading pubescent or tomentose. Flowers bisexual. Sepals four 0.3-1.5 (-2) cm long, broadly ovate or elliptic, apex obtuse to rounded, crisped pubescent to sericeous outside, subglabrous inside. Corolla tubular, (0.4-)0.7-1.6 cm long, tube (0.3)0.4-1.3 cm long, lobes four, (1-)2-4 mm long, broadly oblong to suborbicular, apex rounded or truncate, often ciliate. Stamens four, fixed halfway to three-quarters up the corolla tube; filaments 2-4.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers 1.25-2 mm long, lanceolate, oblong or ovate, often flattened, sometimes apiculate, glabrous. Staminodes four, 1-3 mm long, lanceolate or subulate, glabrous. Disk absent. Ovary ovoid to depressed globose, four-locular, densely long-strigose; style 0.5-1.6 cm long after anthesis, exserted, glabrous; style-head simple or minutely four-lobed. Fruit 3-6.5 cm long, ellipsoid, ovoid or globose, apex obtuse to rounded, base rounded to truncate, smooth to verrucose, finely pubescent to densely covered in short hairy processes. Seeds 1-4, 1.7-3.5 cm long, ellipsoid, usually rounded at base and apex, often planoconvex, sometimes slightly laterally compressed, testa smooth, shining, 0.5-0.75 mm thick; scar adaxial and often extending around the base, 0.2-1 cm wide; embryo with plano-convex, free cotyledons, radicle extending to the surface; endosperm absent.