Amphitecna latifolia (Mill.) A.H.Gentry

Authority

Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

Family

Bignoniaceae

Scientific Name

Amphitecna latifolia (Mill.) A.H.Gentry

Description

Species Description - Tree to 10 m tall; bark light brown; young branches 3-4- angular, becoming cylindrical at age. Leaves alternate to nearly opposite, simple; blades 7-19 x 3-10 cm, obovate, oval, or elliptic, chartaceous to coriaceous, glabrous, the apex shortly acuminate or rarely obtuse or rounded, the base tapering into a short swollen petiole, the margins entire and revolute. Flowers in clusters of 2 or 3 or solitary at end of lateral branches. Calyx green, 2.5-3.5 cm long, glabrous, split halfway into 2 elongate, concave lobes; corolla pale yellow to greenish white, 3.5-6 cm long, funnel-shaped, the lobes deltoid, slightly reflexed; stamens 4, nearly exserted, of equal length, the staminode very short; ovary covered with minute scales. Fruit broadly ellipsoid to nearly globose, 6-9 cm long, relatively fragile, easily crushed, turning from green to brown. Seeds ca. 1.3 cm long, lenticular.

Distribution and Ecology - Along ravines and in coastal forests. Battery Gut (A4161), Fish Bay Gut (A2491). Also on St. Croix and St. Thomas; Florida, Mexico, Central America, West Indies, and northern South America. Common name: jumbie calabash

Discussion

Crescentia cucurbitina L., Mant. PL 2: 250. 1771.

Crescentia lethifera Tussac, Fl. Antill. 4: 50. 1827.

Crescentia toxicaria Tussac, Fl. Antill. 4: 50. 1827.

Crescentia cucurbitina var. heterophylla Kuntze, Revis.