Malpighia coccigera L.
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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 - Erect (seldom prostrate) shrub 1-5 m tall, many-branched from base; bark light brown, fissured; branches reddish-tinged when young, glabrous to strigillose. Leaf blades 1-2.5 x 0.8-2 cm, oblong, ovate to obovate, coriaceous, glabrous, or the lower surface sparsely covered with T-shaped hairs, the apex obtuse, truncate, or emarginate, the base obtuse, the margins sinuatedentate, with T-shaped bristles; petioles 0.5-1.5 mm long; stipules minute, glabrous or strigillose. Flowers 2-5, congested in leaf axils; bracteoles minute, ciliate; pedicels 9-20 mm long, slender; calyx bearing (6-)8-10 fleshy glands; petals light pink, 11-12.5 mm long, long-clawed; filaments glabrous; anterior style short, slender; posterior styles longer, thicker. Drupe 5-15 mm diam., depressed-globose, 3-lobed, fleshy, bright red.
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Discussion
Note: Populations of M. coccigera on St. John seem to belong to subspecies coccigera, but they differ from typical material by their robust habit. Subspecies coccigera is restricted to Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands and is known only from cultivation in the Lesser Antilles. Two other subspecies (horrida and apiculata) are known from Cuba and Hispaniola. They differ from subspecies coccigera by their smaller leaves and thinner, shorter posterior styles.
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Distribution
A rare species of coastal scrub and dry deciduous forests. Salt Pond Trail (M17064), trail to Drunk Bay (A4133). Also in Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, cultivated elsewhere.
West Indies| Puerto Rico South America| Cuba South America|