Ardisia obovata Desv. ex Ham.

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Myrsinaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Ardisia obovata Desv. ex Ham.

  • Description

    Species Description - Small tree to 10 m tall; bark light gray, finely fissured. Leaf blades 8-18 x 25-6 cm coriaceous, obovate t0 elliptic-obovate, glabrous, obscurely punctate, the apex obtuse to rounded, the base cuneate, the margins slightly revolute; petioles 0.5-1.2 cm long. Flowers green with orange punctations, produced in terminal panicles. Calyx nearly cup-shaped, ca. 3 mm long, the sepals narrowly ovate, ciliate, 1.5-2 mm long; corolla green to greenish orange, the tube to 1.5 mm long, the petals oblong, reflexed; filaments white, the anthers yellow, mucronate, as long as the filaments; ovary ovoid, glabrous, punctate. Drupe globose to oblate, 5-8 mm diam., black. puncate, with persistent style at apex.

  • Discussion

    Ardisia guadalupensis Duchass. ex Griseb., A b h . Kon-lgl. Ges. Wiss. Gottingen 7: 237. 1857. Icacorea guadalupensis (Griseb.) Britton & P. Wilson, Bull N e w York Bot. Gard. 8: 401. 1917.

    Ardisia coriacea sensu M e z in Urb., S y m b . Ant. 2: 398. 1901, nonSw., 1788

    Common name: breakbill.

  • Distribution

    A common shrub in secondary vegetation. Bordeaux (Ml7053), Gift Hill (A2464), road to Herman Farm (Ml7009). Also on Jost van Dyke, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles.

    West Indies| Puerto Rico South America| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Virgin Islands South America|