Jacquinia keyensis Mez

  • Authority

    Ståhl, Bertil. 2010. Theophrastaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 105: 1-160. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Theophrastaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Jacquinia keyensis Mez

  • Type

    Type. United States. Florida: Jewfish Key, 19 Jan 1895, A. H. Curtiss 5447 (lectotype, G, designated by Stâhl, 1992, p. 59; isolectotypes, F, HBG, K, LE, MO, P, US).

  • Synonyms

    Jacquinia keyensis var. minutifolia Correll, Jacquinia armillaris Jacq.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub or small tree to 5 m, occasionally taller; young shoots and branchlets yellowish brown to grey, densely lepidote, trichomes with short stalks of 1 or sometimes 2 cells and few-celled, flattened or sub-conical heads. Leaves alternate or sometimes vaguely pseudoverticillate at branch tips, straight, usually light green when dried; blade broadly to narrowly obovate, sometimes broadly elliptic, 1-4.5 x 0.5-2.5 cm, coriaceous and very tough, 0.6-1 mm thick, glabrous or puberulous towards base, base attenuate, apex retuse or rounded, without or sometimes with a darkened muero to 0.2 mm long, sides often recurved or revolute from midvein, margins revolute; midvein level with surfaces or prominulous on both sides, lateral veins inconspicuous or invisible; both surfaces smooth or upper surface sometimes vaguely striate; extra-xylary sclerenchyma on both sides arranged in distinct bundles 5-20(-40) cells thick, adaxial bundles often more numerous than abaxial bundles and deeply sunken in mesophyll, sometimes approaching center of blade or adjacent to a 1 - or partly 2-layered hypo-derm, abaxial bundles often deeply sunken in mesophyll; crystals abundant in mesophyll, abundant, sparse, or lacking in epidermis and hypoderm; petiole 2-6 mm long, puberulous-lepidote. Racemes solitary with 4-30 flowers; rachis 0.8-6.5 cm long, 0.8-1.5 mm thick, puberulous in axils and at nodes; bracts 0.5-0,7 mm long, inserted at nodes; pedicels 7-12 mm long. Calyx lobes suborbicular or very broadly ovate, 1.8-2.5 x 2-3.5 mm, margins appressed to fruit, erose, shortly erose-ciliate, or rarely subentire. Corolla white or yellowish white, campanulate; tube 3-3.5(-4.5) mm long, exceeding calyx by 1.3-2.3 mm; lobes obovate or oblong, 3.5-4.5 x 2-3(-4) mm; staminodes oblong or broadly oblong, 2.2-3 x 1.8-2 mm, obtuse, rounded, or truncate at apex. Filaments 1.5-1.8 mm long, glandular-punctate; anthers 1.5-2 mm long. Pistil 2.8-4 mm long; ovules 80-120 in 5 or 6 rows. Fruits yellow, nitid, subglobose, 5.5-10 mm diam., pericarp 0.2-0.4 mm thick, surface smooth. Seeds 3-8, often more or less flattened, oblong to elliptic, 2.5-3 mm long, dark brown to brown, reticulate.

    Distribution and Ecology - S Florida and Bahamas to Jamaica, Cayman Islands, and N Hispaniola (Île de la Tortue) (Fig. 54) in coastal thickets, often in more or less saline habitats, rarely above 100 m. Flowering and fruiting throughout year but few records of flowers Apr-Jun.

  • Discussion

    Jacquinia keyensis is similar and probably most closely related to J. armillaris and J. arborea. It differs by having smaller, alternate leaves with puberulous and proportionally longer petioles. In addition, the petals and staminodes are narrower, and the seeds are smaller.

  • Common Names

    joewood, joebush, ironwood, washwood

  • Distribution

    Saint Catherine Jamaica South America| Saint Mary Jamaica South America| Saint Thomas Jamaica South America| Saint Ann Jamaica South America| Acklins Bahamas South America| Andros Island Bahamas South America| Bimini Bahamas South America| Turks and Caicos Islands South America| Cat Island Bahamas South America| Eleuthera Bahamas South America| Exuma Bahamas South America| Grand Bahama Bahamas South America| Great Abaco Bahamas South America| Inagua Bahamas South America| Green Turtle Cay Bahamas South America| Long Island Bahamas South America| Mayaguana Bahamas South America| New Providence Bahamas South America| Ragged Island Bahamas South America| San Salvador Bahamas South America| Grand Turk Bahamas South America| Camagüey Cuba South America| Holguín Cuba South America| Las Tunas Cuba South America| Matanzas Cuba South America| Villa Clara Cuba South America| Grand Cayman Cayman Islands South America| Nord-Ouest Haiti South America| Florida United States of America North America|