Parathesis serrulata (Sw.) Mez

• Authority

  Britton, Nathaniel L. Flora Borinqueña.

• Family

  Myrsinaceae

• Scientific Name

  Parathesis serrulata (Sw.) Mez

• Description

  Species Description - We have found no English name for this bush, or small tree, but another Spanish one is Seca-garganta. These Spanish names are with reference to the throat, the plant having, perhaps, been used as a throat remedy. It inhabits woods and forests in moist or wet climates, and in Porto Rico, is found, for the most part, at the middle or higher altitudes; it is also native in Santo Domingo and in Haiti, but not elsewhere in the West Indies, in so far as known; in continental America it ranges from Central Mexico to Venezuela. Parathesis (Greek, referring to the valvate (not overlapping) lobes of the corolla) is a genus composed of a few tropical American species of trees and shrubs; the one here illustrated is the only species growing in Porto Rico, and it was after a study of herbarium specimens from it that the genus was established by the English botanist Hooker in 1876, separated from the large, related genus Ardisia on account of diiferences in the lobes of the corolla; this difference had, however, been previously observed by the Swiss botanist Alphonse de Candolle, who did not regard it as sufficient to warrant generic rank. Recent botanists agree with Hooker in regarding Parathesis as a distinct genus. The species have alternate leaves which mostly have minute, translucent lines or dots, and their small, 5-parted flowers are borne in clusters at the end of the twigs. The sepals of the small calyx are united at the base; the corolla is short, with valvate, spreading lobes; the 5 stamens are borne on the throat of the corolla, one opposite each of the corolla-lobes, the filaments very slender, the anthers arrow-shaped; the round ovary contains only a few ovules, the slender style is topped by a very small stigma. The berry-like fruit is nearly globular, and contains only one seed. Parathesis serrulata (the specific name referring to the sometimes slightly toothed leaves) is a shrub, usually less than 3 meters high, but may become a small tree; its twigs, leaves, and flower-clusters are scaly-woolly. The leaves are stalked, oblong, sometimes broadest above the middle, thin in texture, from 7 to 16 centimeters long, the base wedge-shaped. The numerous small, pink flowers are borne in clusters 6 to 12 centimeters long, on stalks 1 to 4 millimeters long; the corolla is from 6 to 8 millimeters broad; the stamens are smooth but the style is hairy above the middle. The black, fleshy fruit is from 6 to 8 millimeters in diameter.

• Discussion

  Rasca-garganta Myrsine Family Ardisia serrulata Swartz, Prodromus Nova Genera et Species Plantarum 48. 1788. Ardisia crenulata Ventenat, Choix des Plantes 5. 1803. Parathesis serrulata Mez, in Urban, Symbolae Antillanae 2: 403. 1901.