Chrysophyllum cainito L.
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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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Type
Type. Sloane, Voy. Jamaica 2: 170, t. 229 (lectotype, chosen here).
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Synonyms
Chrysophyllum cainito var. jamaicense Jacq., Chrysophyllum monopyrenum Sw., Chrysophyllum sericeum A.DC., Chrysophyllum cainito var. pomiferum Pierre, Chrysophyllum bicolor Poir., Chrysophyllum cainito var. portoricense A.DC., Chrysophyllum bonplandii Klotzsch ex Miq., Chrysophyllum ottonis Klotzsch ex Miq., Chrysophyllum cainito var. pomiferum Pierre, Chrysophyllum cainito var. martinicense Pierre, Cynodendron bicolor (Poir.) Baehni
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Description
Species Description - Tree; young growth golden or golden-ferruginous sericeous eventually glabrous, greyish-brown, smooth or cracked, lenticellate or not. Leaves spaced, alternate and distichous, 4.5-15.5 × 2.5-6.9 cm, broadly elliptic to oblong elliptic, apex shortly broadly attenuate or cuspidate to obtuse or rounded, base narrowly or broadly attenuate or cuneate, upper surface glabrous or occasionally with some residual indumentum along the midrib, lower surface golden or golden-ferruginous sericeous; venation brochidodromous, secondary veins often looping to form a submarginal vein, marginal vein sometimes conspicuous, midrib sunken on the upper surface, secondaries 14-26 pairs, arcuate, parallel; intersecondaries long; tertiaries parallel to the secondaries and descending from the margin. Petiole (0.9) 1-2 cm long, channelled, sericeous. Fascicles 5-20(-30)-flowered. Pedicel 0.6-1.2 cm long, sericeous. Flowers bisexual. Sepals (4-)5(-6), 1.5-2 mm long, broadly ovate to suborbicular, apex rounded, outside sericeous, inside appressed puberulous to glabrous, margin often hyaline. Corolla 3.5-4 mm long, tube about equalling the lobes, lobes 5-6, ovate or triangular, apex acute to rounded, outside sericeous, indumentum often confined to the centre of the lobes, inside glabrous. Stamens 5-6, fixed at the top of the corolla tube or base of the lobes; filaments 0.3-0.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers 0.40.8 mm long, lanceolate, glabrous. Staminodes absent, or rarely present, in a single whorl alternating with the stamens, up to 1 mm long. Ovary broadly ovoid to globose, (8-)9-11-locular, appressed pubescent; style 0.1-0.3 mm long after anthesis, glabrous; style-head (8-)9-11-lobed. Fruit 4-7 cm long, broadly ellipsoid to globose, apex and base obtuse to rounded, smooth, glabrous; pericarp fleshy. Seeds 3-10, 1-1.8 cm long, usually laterally compressed, with a smooth shining testa 0.2-1 mm thick; scar adaxial, 0.6-1.3 cm long, always more than half the length of the seed, about equalling the width of the seed, often with a small rounded beak near the apex; embryo with thick flat cotyledons and exserted radicle, endosperm equalling or slightly thicker than the cotyledons. Field characters. A tree to 25 m high, usually smaller, the bole becoming slightly fluted with age. The colour of the bark varies from pale greyish to dark brownish-black, depending on exposure, and it is deeply and narrowly fissured, often suberous. The exudate is abundant, white. The crown is characteristic and easily spotted from a distance because of the dark glossy upper leaf surface, and shining golden pubescence on the lower surface. The flowers are greenish to cream-white, fragrant, and the ripe fruit usually purple, though a yellow-skinned form is also known. Flowering in the Greater Antilles is mostly Jun to Sep, and the fruit take several months to mature.
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Discussion
Cultivated for its delicious sweet fruit. It should be eaten when perfectly ripe, otherwise it is spoilt by the excessive latex.
Distribution and Ecology: In Cuba and Hispaniola it occurs in dry forest or scrub over limestone at low elevations. It is cultivated and becomes naturalized under a wide range of climatic conditions from sea level to 1000 m altitude. In Panama it occurs under conditions which support seasonal semi-deciduous forest, evergreen lowland and montane forest. Widely cultivated and naturalized throughout Central and South America and in the West Indies, but probably native only in the Greater Antilles. It is probably not native anywhere on the mainland of Central America, although it may appear to be so in some parts of Panama. Standley and Williams (1967:218) note that the lack of a Nahuatl name for such a well known plant is a strong indication that it was unknown on the mainland before the Spanish conquest, and I have not seen any evidence that it could be native from Mexico to Costa Rica, or in the Lesser Antilles. Patrick Browne, writing in 1756 (p. 171), states that it was cultivated throughout Jamaica.
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Common Names
caimite, caimito, green-skinned star apple, purple star apple, star apple, white-skinned star apple
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Objects
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Distribution
Cuba South America| Cayman Islands South America| Jamaica South America| Portland Jamaica South America| Saint James Jamaica South America| Saint Mary Jamaica South America| Saint Thomas Jamaica South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America| Puerto Rico South America|