Samyda dodecandra 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

    Samyda dodecandra Jacq.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub 1-3 m tall; bark light brown, smooth; branches cylindrical, densely ferruginous pubescent. Leaf blades 3-11 x 1.5-6 cm, elliptic or ovate, coriaceous, pellucid punctate, pubescent, especially on the lower surface, the apex acute to rounded, often mucronate, seldom retuse, the base rounded or obtuse, the margins sharply serrate; stipules ca. 1 mm long, lanceolate, early deciduous; petioles to 5 mm long. Calyx bell-shaped, 1.5-1.8 cm long, pubescent, green without, white within, the sepals 5, spreading, slightly reflexed, unequal, 6-8 mm long, fleshy, oblong; stamens 10-12, the staminal tube 3-5 mm long, pubescent without; ovary ovoid, densely pubescent, the style equal to or exceeding the staminal tube, the stigma nearly cup-shaped, green. Capsule fleshy, ovoid to globose, pubescent, 1.2-1.5 cm diam., green with reddish tinge without, orange to red within, splitting from top to bottom, the pericarp thick. Seeds 2.5-3.3 mm long, nearly ovoid, with a fleshy yellowish aril.

  • Discussion

    Samyda decandra Jacq., E n u m . Syst. P L 21. 1760. Samyda serrulata L., Sp. P L , ed. 2, 1: 558. 1762.

  • Distribution

    Found in dry forests and in coastal scrub. Bethany (B340), trail to Brown Bay (A1875). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; the Greater Antilles (except Jamaica) and the Lesser Antilles.

    West Indies| Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America|