Persea americana var. drymifolia (Cham. & Schlech) Blake
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Authority
Kopp, Lucille E. 1966. A tasonomic revision of the genus Persea in the Western Hemisphere (Perseae-Lauraceae). Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 14: 1-117.
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Family
Lauraceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Trees to 10 m. tall; branchlets slender, pubescent with pale, tawny, flexuous, almost erect hairs giving an arachnoid appearance, the bark aromatic; leaf-blades 6-20 cm. long, 4.5-10 cm. wide, the lower surface sparsely to moderately pubescent with flexuous suberect hairs, glaucous, frequently ceriferous in the form of obvious granules, the 6-9 pairs of primary nerves divergent at 35-50°, slightly impressed above, prominent beneath, secondary and tertiary nerves prominulous beneath. Inflorescences as in var. americana; bracts subtending the multiple inflorescences ferrugineous-pubescent on both surfaces with flexuous hairs, the small bracts subtending the cymes and individual flowers pubescent on both surfaces; pedicels 5 mm. long, with tawny, flexuous pubescence; flowers 4.5-9 mm. long, with flexuous pubescence; outer perianth-segments 4.2-7.8 mm. long, 1.5-2.5 mm. wide, pubescent on both surfaces; inner perianth-segments 4.5-9 mm. long, 1.6-2.5 mm. wide, pubescent on both surfaces; stamens similar to var. americana; gynoecium pubescent. Infructescence bearing few fruits; perianth reflexed, retained longer than in var. americana; fruits black.
Distribution and Ecology - Distribution. Widely cultivated
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Discussion
Persea drymifolia Schlecht. & Cham., Linnaea 6: 365. 1831.
Persea gratissima var. (3 oblonga Meissn. in DC. Prodr. 15(1): 53. 1864.
Persea gratissima var. drymifolia (Schlecht. & Cham.) Mez, Jahrb. Bot. Gart. Berl. 5: 147. 1889.
Persea gratissima var. melanocarpa Phil. Anal. Univ. Chile 91: 501. 1895.
Vernacular names. Aguacate de anis, aguacate oloroso, steets.
Type collection. Schiede 1140, Papantla, Vera Cruz, "flores flavescentes. Aguacate oloroso Papantlensium. Quae differe videtur a Lauro Persea acdt. Folia trita odorem aromaticum spargunt." (holotype B, isotype MO, fragment at A).
The characters b) which var. drymifolia can be separated from var. americana are the anise-scented vegetative parts, the longer, laxly appressed pubescence which gives a somewhat arachnoid appearance to the branchlet-tips and flowers, the granidar waxy deposits on many specimens, and the black edible fruits with reflexed. more persistent perianth-segments.
Though most of the collections represent cultivated plants, some from Vera Cruz. Puebla. and Chiapas might have been obtained from native trees. Included in the citations are two Popenoe et al. collections from Vera Cruz which do not have the anise odor or the tvpical pubescence of this variety. They are possibly the progeii) of natural crosses between P. floccosa and P. americana var. drymifolia.
Collections Avhidi may be native or which are historically important have been cited here. The remaining examined collections are noted only in the exsiccatae.