Terminalia buceras (L.) C.Wright

  • Authority

    Stace, C. A. & Alwan, A.-R A. 2010. Combretaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 107: 1-369. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Combretaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Terminalia buceras (L.) C.Wright

  • Type

    Type. "Brown. Jam. and  Sloan. Jam. given in protologue; in Species Plantarum ed. 2, 557 (1762)  Habitat in Jamaica was mentioned. Jamaica, Browne s.n. (lectotype, selected by Fawcett & Rendle, Fl. Jamaica 5: 307 (1926), LINN 556.1).

  • Synonyms

    Bucida buceras L., Terminalia angustifolia C.Wright, Terminalia angustifolia C.Wright, Myrobalanus buceras Kuntze, Buceras bucida Crantz, Bucida subinermis Bisse, Bucida ophiticola Bisse

  • Description

    Species Description - Semi or briefly deciduous shrub or tree 3.5-40 m, with (especially when juvenile) or without spines on branches. Leaves subcoriaceous, 2-11 × 1-6 7 cm broadly to narrowly obovate, sometimes elliptic or oblanceolate, subacute or obtuse to rounded to retuse at apex, cuneate or broadly so at base, sometimes slightly revolute at margin, glabrous adaxially, sparsely pubescent except more pubescent on midvein but be coming subglabrous abaxially; domatia absent. Venation brochidodromous; midvein moderate, prominent or scarcely so; secondary veins (3-)4-8(-11) pairs moderately spaced, originating at moderately or sometimes narrowly acute angles, sometimes decurrent on to midvein, curved or slightly curved, usually scarcely prominent; intersecondary veins common-tertiary veins randomly reticulate; higher order veins usually not distinct; areolation incomplete, not or scarcely prominent. Petiole 0.2-1.2 cm, pubescent, becoming subglabrous, biglandular. Inflorescences (2.5-)4-19 cm, simple, usually elongate but rarely subcapitate, with many crowded flowers all bisexual; peduncle 1.5-9 cm, pubescent; rhachis (l-)2.5-10 cm, pubescent; bracts ca. 1 mm, ovate-triangular, densely pubescent abaxially. Flowers pentamerous, 3-5 × 3-4 mm; lower hypanthium 1-2 mm, tomentose to appressed-pubescent; upper hypanthium 1-2 mm, widely cupuliform, subglabrous to tomentose; calyx lobes 0.2-0.7 mm, suberect, subglabrous to tomentose; disk pilose; stamens 3-5 mm; style 2.5-5 mm, pilose proximally, sometimes nearly to apex. Fruits many along whole length of rhachis, 0.4-0.7 × 0.2-0.45 cm (excl. upper hypanthium), terete, ovate or narrowly ovate (often asymmetrically curved) in side view, woody and achene-like. abruptly or gradually narrowed to beak 0.02-0.2 cm at apex, rounded at base, densely to sparsely pubescent, the upper hypanthium persistent on the beak. Reproductive biology. Flowers white, cream-colored, or yellow, strongly protogynous, strongly fragrant. The outer whorl of stamens ripens (and often anthers fall) before the inner whorl extends and dehisces. Flowering and fruiting throughout most of year.

  • Discussion

    Uses. Said to be a valuable timber; bark used for tanning (Puerto Rico and Jamaica); bark used for making an astringent styptic (Jamaica).

    Illustrations. Figs. 8a-c (epidermis), 22d (pollen), 92o (fr), lOlh-j (If), 109 (fr shoot). Correll & Correll (1982), p. 1028 (as Bucida buceras); Eichler (1867), fl, fr & gall, pl. 35 (as Bucida buceras); Exell (1958), p. 156 (as Bucida buceras); Sargent (1893), fig. 201 (as Bucida buceras).

    Wright 1239 (Cuba) at BR, CGE, G and K is Terminalia chicharronia subsp. orientensis-, Jack 7009 (Cuba) at A/GH and P is Buchenavia tetraphylla.

    Frequently a proportion of the fruits is conspicuously galled, the gall being in the form of a narrow curved organ to 16 cm long. Apparently the name “buceras, ” implying bull s horn, is derived from this (Don, 1832; Graham, 1964), although Britton (1908) wrongly applied this derivation to the name Bucida. Cook (1908) examined the anatomy of these galls and concluded that they are caused by Eriophayid mites.

    Most material of the three species formerly placed in Bucida is easily identifiable, and the differences between typical Terminalia macrostachya and T. molinetii are vast, but at its two extremes T. buceras does closely approach the other two species and the lines of distinction are somewhat subjective. Until detailed experimental and field work has been performed it seems best to maintain three species; if amalgamated they would represent the most diverse species of the Combretaceae. The main intermediates with T. macrostachya are in Mexico, and those with T. molinetii in Cuba; see those species for distinctions.\

    Distribution and Ecology: (Fig. 108). In a wide range of habitats: tropical and subtropical dry, moist or seasonally flooded forests; secondary and remnant forests; disturbed ground; thickets and scrub; forest edges; river banks; savannas; near the sea on dunes and by creeks and swamps, often just behind mangroves; on sand, coral, limestone; at 0-1200 m. Southern Mexico (eastwards from ca. 98° W) to Panama, throughout most of West Indies from St. Vincent (tide Bornstein 1989) and Barbados north to western Cuba and southern Florida at ca. 25°30' N. Cultivated m West Indies, Hawaii and at least Ecuador in South America. We have seen no indigenous specimens from mainland South America or its near islands. The Colombian specimen comes from San Andres Island, which lies ca. 770 km WNW of the mainland and much nearer Nicaragua. Pulle (1906) referred to a specimen (Splitgerber 354) from the seacoast at Surinam (Suriname) collected in flower in December 1837, it was mentioned by Exell (1935b) but, like us (BM, BR, CGE, K, GOET, L, U investigated), he could not trace it. Pulle also mentioned its occurrence in Guyana, which we have again been unable to confirm. A sterile specimen in VEN (Little 16087) from Sucre, Venezuela, labeled Bucida buceras and appearing as such in some fists is in fact Terminalia amazonia. Bucida buceras was recorded from Costa Rica by Hall and Seymour (1978), but no specimen was cited and we have seen none.

  • Common Names

    oak, black olive, olive-bark tree, ucar, bullet tree, whitewood, french-oak, Antigua white-wood, grignon, bois gli-gli, pukté, pucté, gri-gri, durgab, geometry tree, Jucaro

  • Distribution

    Montserrat South America| Puerto Rico South America| Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| Guadeloupe South America| Martinique South America| Barbados South America| Dominican Republic South America| Colón Panamá Central America| Yucatán Mexico North America| Tabasco Mexico North America| Quintana Roo Mexico North America| Chiapas Mexico North America| Campeche Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Guerrero Mexico North America| Florida United States of America North America| Bocas del Toro Panamá Central America| San Blás Panama Central America| Belize Belize Central America| Cayo Belize Central America| Corozal Belize Central America| Orange Walk Belize Central America| Stann Creek Belize Central America| Alta Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Huehuetenango Guatemala Central America| Petén Guatemala Central America| Francisco Morazán Honduras Central America| Guayas Ecuador South America| San Andrés y Providencia Colombia South America| Trelawny Jamaica South America| Toledo Belize Central America| La Habana Cuba South America| Piñar del Río Cuba South America| Saint Elizabeth Jamaica South America| Nord-Ouest Haiti South America| Fajardo Puerto Rico South America| Vieques Puerto Rico South America| Dorado Puerto Rico South America| Bayamón Puerto Rico South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Andrew Jamaica South America| Barahona Dominican Republic South America| Samaná Dominican Republic South America| Cienfuegos Cuba South America| Guantánamo Cuba South America| Santiago de Cuba Cuba South America| Villa Clara Cuba South America| Camagüey Cuba South America| El Seibo Dominican Republic South America| Saint Catherine Jamaica South America| La Romana Dominican Republic South America| Puerto Plata Dominican Republic South America| Matanzas Cuba South America| Barceloneta Puerto Rico South America| Guánica Puerto Rico South America| Lajas Puerto Rico South America| Mayagüez Puerto Rico South America| Ponce Puerto Rico South America| Vega Baja Puerto Rico South America| Yauco Puerto Rico South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Nord-Est Haiti South America| Sud Haiti South America| Grand'Anse Haiti South America| Santiago Rodríguez Dominican Republic South America| Inagua Bahamas South America| Turks and Caicos Islands South America| Antigua and Barbuda South America| Antigua and Barbuda South America| Rincón Puerto Rico South America| Virgin Islands South America|