Chrysophyllum argenteum Jacq.

• Authority

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

• Family

  Sapotaceae

• Scientific Name

  Chrysophyllum argenteum Jacq.

• Type

  Type. Jacquin, Select. Stirp, amer. hist. 53, tab. 38, fig. 1. 1763 (lectotype, chosen here).

• Description

  Species Description - Young shoots appressed puberulous to sericeous, with golden-brown, reddish or whitish hairs, soon glabrous, becoming rough and scaly, lenticellate. Leaves spaced, alternate and distichous, (4-)8-18(-23) x (1.8-)3-8(-10.5) cm, usually broadly oblong or elliptic, less frequently oblong-lanceolate, oblanceolate or obovate, apex usually narrowly attenuate, less frequently obtuse or rounded, base narrowly attenuate, cuneate, obtuse, rounded or truncate; upper surface glabrous, lower surface sericeous to sparsely appressed puberulous or glabrous, hairs golden, reddish or whitish; venation eucamptodromous or brochidodromous, midrib sunken on the upper surface, secondary veins (8-) 10-16(-25) pairs, usually parallel and slightly arcuate, or sometimes straight, not impressed on the upper surface; intersecondaries long or short; tertiaries parallel to the secondaries and descending from the margin or forming an open reticulum. Petiole (0.3-)0.5-2 cm long, channelled, sericeous to sparsely appressed puberulous or glabrous. Fascicles (2-)5-15(-25)-flowered. Pedicel (2-)3-7(-10) mm long, sericeous to sparsely appressed puberulous. Flowers bisexual. Sepals (four-)five, 1.5 2(-2.5) mm long, broadly ovate or suborbicular, apex obtuse or rounded, outside sericeous to appressed puberulous, except for the broad hyaline margin, inside appressed puberulous to glabrous; margin sometimes ciliate. Corolla (3.5-)4-6(-7) mm long, tube (2.25-)3-4(-5) mm long, lobes (4-)5(-6), (0.5-)1-1.5(-2) mm long, ovate or triangular, apex obtuse or rounded, sparsely to densely sericeous outside, indumentum sometimes restricted to the lobes, glabrous inside. Stamens (4-)5(-6), fixed at the top of the corolla tube or base of the lobes; filaments 0.2-0.5(-0.7) mm long, glabrous, traces sometimes visible to base of tube; anthers (0.2-)0.3-0.6(-0.9) mm long, mostly lanceolate, glabrous. Ovary ovoid, 5-7(-8)-locular, appressed puberulous; style (0.3-)0.5-1 mm long after anthesis, style-head minutely 5-7(-8)-lobed. Fruit 1-4.5 cm long, 0.6-5 cm broad, narrowly ellipsoid to depressed globose, apex and base acute, obtuse, rounded or hollowed, smooth, glabrous; pericarp fleshy. Seed one-several, 1-1.6 cm long, ellipsoid, slightly to strongly laterally compressed; testa smooth, usually glossy, often bearing strong impressions of the aborted loculi on the adaxial surface, 0.2-1 mm thick; scar broad, usually heartshaped, basi-ventral but often attaining more than half the length of the seed; embryo vertical, with thick, flat cotyledons and exserted radicle, surrounded by a layer of endosperm about as thick as the cotyledons.