Siparuna glabrescens (C.Presl) A.DC.
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Authority
Renner, Susanne S. & Hausner, Gerlinde. 2005. Siparunaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 95: 1--247 pp. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Monimiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type: Martinique: 1819 1821 (male), Sieber Fl. Martin. 286 [Franz Kohaut leg.] (holotype, PR 191174, n.v., GH photo s.n.; isotypes, G-BOISS, G-DC).
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Synonyms
Siparuna santae-luciae Perkins, Siparuna caloneura Perkins, Siparuna scabra Perkins, Siparuna urbaniana Perkins
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Description
Species Description - Dioecious shrub or treelet, 3-10 m tall, to 18 cm in dbh, with spreading branches; wood soft and with a clear resin smelling of turpentine, the young branch-lets terete or slightly angular, sparsely pubescent with tufted, few-branched or long simple hairs, or glabrous. Leaves opposite or in whorls of 3; petioles 0.53 cm long, the lamina drying greenish brown, thin-chartaceous, obovate, oblanceolate to lanceolate, 12-22 X 5-9 cm, the base acute to obtuse and often flared, the apex acuminate, the tip 1-2 cm long, both surfaces more or less densely pubescent with whitish or yellowish simple, few-branched, or tufted hairs, glabrate with age, with 7-10 pairs of secondary veins, these flat above and raised below, the margin more or less profoundly serrate, dentate, or denticulate, the teeth usually conspicuously pubescent. Cymes 1-3 cm long, often pendent, pubescent like the young branch-lets, with 15-25 flowers. Fresh flowers white or yellow; male floral cup obconical, 2.5-3 mm in diam., ca. 2.2 mm high, pubescent like the young branchlets, the tepals 5-7, narrowly triangular, 2.2-2.6 mm long, the floral roof moderately raised and glabrate; stamens 8-14; female floral cup subglobose, 2.5-3.5 mm in diam., 2.4-3.2 mm high, the tepals up to 3 mm long; styles 10-15. Fruiting receptacle globose and crowned by the persistent tepals, l(-2) cm in diam., the 8-12 drupelets distinctly visible in dried receptacles, when fresh green with whitish spots or warts and a strong lemon odor, the drupelets with a reddish stylar aril.
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Discussion
Siparuna glabrescens is a Lesser Antillean endemic possibly derived from northern Venezuelan populations of S. thecaphora with which it shares the basic floral structure and leaf shape. Nicolson (1991) has discussed the variability in pubescence and degree of leaf margin serration observed in S. glabrescens, and we agree with his assessment that these characters vary continuously and even in single specimens. Particularly S. scabra Perkins and S. caloneura Perkins, which in part are based on what may be the same collection (Eggers 6705 and 6705a), provide an example of Perkins’s narrow species concepts.
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Common Names
bois citronnier, consolide grand boise
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Distribution
Siparuna glabrescens is common in roadside thickets or along streams on the Lesser Antillean islands Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent where it occurs at 350-1000 m altitude; flowering and fruiting throughout the year.
Dominica South America| Martinique South America| Saint Lucia South America| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines South America|