Eugenia axillaris (Sw.) Willd.
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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
Myrtaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Small tree 3-7 m tall; bark light gray, smooth, slightly fissured; twigs slightly angled, rusty-pubescent when young, becoming glabrous and grayish to ash-colored. Leaves opposite or subopposite; blades 3-8 x 2-4 cm, ovate to elliptic, coriaceous, glabrous, the midvein sunken to flat on upper surface, punctations inconspicuous, the apex shortly acuminate, acute, or obtuse, the base acute to cuneate, the margins revolute; petioles 3-8 mm long. Flowers white, numerous, in short axillary racemes, the axis 2-5 mm long, slightly 4-angled; pedicels 1.5-3 mm long; bracteoles ovate to rounded, nearly clasping the pedicel. Hypanthium nearly coneshaped, 0.5-1 mm long, puberulent, sepals rounded, gland-dotted, ciliate, in 2 dissimilar pairs, 0.5-1 mm long; petals obovate, 2.5-3 mm long, gland-dotted; disk 1-1.5 mm wide, puberulent; stamens numerous, the filaments 4-5 mm long, glabrous. Berry oblate to globose, less often ellipsoid, 0.7-1 cm diam., turning from green to nearly black.
Distribution and Ecology - An uncommon tree of moist to dry evergreen forests. Road to Bordeaux (A4053). Also on Anegada, St. Croix, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; throughout the Caribbean and coastal Mexico.
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Discussion
Eugenia guadalupensis DC, Prodr. 3: 275. 1828.