Ocotea floribunda (Sw.) Mez
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Lauraceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Dioecious tree to 20 m tall; bark grayish or brown, smooth, becoming slightly fissured; branches sparsely pubescent when young, becoming glabrous, drying blackish. Leaf blades aromatic, 5-15 x 1.5-7 cm, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, or oblong-elliptic, chartaceous to nearly coriaceous, reticulate-veined, the primary and secondary veins drying dark brown, lower surface with a few appressed, rusty hairs, glabrescent, the lower surface dull, the apex obtuse to acuminate, the base acute to obtuse, the margins entire; petioles 1-1.3 cm long. Rowers functionally unisexual, in axillary panicles or racemes, the axes sparsely pubescent; masculine flowers with a pistillode; female flowers with indehiscent stamens; tepals ovate, 2-2.5 mm long, sparsely papillate-pubescent within; stamens 9; stigma truncate. Fruit cupule 5-7 mm wide, cup-shaped, brown, 2-rimmed, the fruit globose, green, 1- 1.5 cm long, shiny, glabrous.
Distribution and Ecology - An uncommon species of moist forests. Bordeaux (M17052, W619, A4694). Also on Tortola; Central America to northern South America, including the Greater and Lesser Antilles.