Byrsonima lucida (Mill.) DC.
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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
Malpighiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Shrub or small tree (l-)3-4(-7) m tall, usually many-branched from base; bark gray, smooth; stems cylindrical, gray, with numerous lenticels, densely sericeous when young, hairs fading to white. Leaf blades 1.5-4 x 0.8-1.5 cm, obovate or oblanceolate, coriaceous, sparsely covered with appressed, rusty hairs, the apex rounded or obtuse, the base attenuate, the margins entire; petioles 3-10 mm long. Flowers long-pedicellate, in terminal racemes; bracts minute, subulate; pedicels 8-12 mm long, slender, with reddish brown pubescence; calyx pinkish, of 5 biglandular sepals, the glands fleshy, elongate, whitish to yellowish; petals spreading, turning from white to pink, becoming red at maturity, 6-8 mm long, long-clawed, the limb widely ovate to reniform; anthers white at margins; ovary glabrous, tricarpellate, the styles 3, free to base. Drupe globose or ovoid, 8-12 mm diam., glabrous, apiculate at apex, turning from green to yellow and finally to yellowish brown.
Distribution and Ecology - A common shrub of dry to moist forests or coastal thickets. Coral Bay Quarter along Center Line Road (A2942), White Cliffs (A2035). Also on Anegada, St. Croix, and St. Thomas; Rorida, Bahamas, Greater and Lesser Antilles.
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Discussion
Malpighia cuneata Turcz., Bull. Soc. Imp. Naturalistes Moscou 31: 390. 1858. Byrsonima cuneata (Turcz.) P. Wilson, Bull. N e w York Bot. Gard. 8: 394. 1917.
Common name: gooseberry.
Note: Byrsonima lucida seems to hybridize with B. spicata. A few individuals with intermediate characters between these two species have been collected at a few localities on St. John. The plants have leaves resembling B. lucida in shape and B. spicata in having prominent secondary veins, but leaf size is intermediate between the two. Coloration of petals is yellow to orange as in B. spicata, and the posterior petal lacks the claw glands, a character typical of B. spicata but absent in B. lucida. None of the individuals collected on St. John is known to set fruit, although I sought fruit repeatedly. This fact may indicate that the individuals belong to a sterile population. Both species seem to hybridize in the Lesser Antilles (Howard, 1988; Nicolson et al., 1991). The names Byrsonima ophiticola Britton and Byrsonima horneana Britton & Small have been applied to similar plants in western Puerto Rico.