Ocotea patens (Sw.) Nees
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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 - Tree to 15 m tall; bark grayish or brown, smooth, spicy; branches puberulent when young, becoming glabrous, drying blackish. Leaf blades 8-17 x 2.5-6 cm, elliptic, elliptic-lanceolate, or oblong-elliptic, coriaceous, reticulate-veined, glabrous, the upper surface shiny, the apex obtuse to acuminate, the base obtuse, the margins entire; petioles 0.5-2 cm long. Flowers bisexual, in axillary panicles, the axes sparsely pubescent; tepals oblong 2- 2.5 mm long, papillate-pubescent within; stamens 9. Fruit cupule 5-6 mm wide, funnel-shaped, brown, smooth, with truncate apex, the fruit ellipsoid, 2-2.5 cm long, turning from green to black, glabrous.
Distribution and Ecology - An uncommon species of moist secondary forests. Bordeaux area (A5116). Also in Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles.