Casearia decandra Jacq.
-
Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
-
Family
Salicaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Description
Species Description - Shrub or small tree 4-6 m tall; bark light brown to gray, smooth; branches cylindrical, pubescent when young. Leaf blades 2.5-9 x 1.5-3.5 cm, elliptic, ovate, or lanceolate-elliptic, chartaceous, pellucid-punctate, glabrous except for a tuft of hairs in the axils of veins along lower surface, the apex acute or acuminate, the base obtuse, asymmetrical, the margins finely serrate; petioles pubescent to glabrous, 3-7 mm long; stipules 2-4 mm long, oblong to linear, tardily deciduous. Flowers in axillary fascicles; pedicels puberulent, 5-8 mm long. Calyx whitish to greenish white, 3.5-4 mm long, pubescent, the sepals 5, oblong-lanceolate, reflexed at anthesis; staminodes pubescent-pilose, oblong-clubshaped; stamens 10, the filaments pilose, exceeding the sepals; ovary ovoid, tomentose, the style elongate, the stigma capitate, pubescent-papillose. Capsule globose, 1-1.4 cm diam., splitting from bottom to top, turning from green to light yellow, apiculate at apex, the pericarp thin. Seeds 5-6 mm long, nearly ellipsoid, covered with a tan aril.
-
Discussion
Casearia parvifolia Willd., Sp. PL 2: 628. 1799
-
Distribution
A common shrub of moist areas, usually along roadsides and open disturbed areas. Emmaus (A735), Susannaberg (A2805). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; common in the West Indies south from Hispaniola and from Honduras to Brazil and Argentina.
Argentina South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| West Indies| West Indies| Honduras Central America| Brazil South America| Argentina South America|