Eugenia biflora (L.) 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
Myrtaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Shrub or small tree 3-6 m tall; bark grayish, smooth, becoming mottled; twigs slightly angled, whitish-pubescent, becoming glabrous and grayish to ash-colored. Leaves opposite or subopposite; blades 3-9 x 2-4 cm, ovate, elliptic, nearly coriaceous, the upper surface puberulent (appressed hairs) soon becoming glabrous, with sunken midvein, conspicuously punctate, the apex acute to acuminate, the base acute to obtuse, the margins revolute; petioles 2-5 mm long, puberulent. Flowers white, numerous, in axillary racemes, the axis 1-3 cm long, pubescent; pedicels 1.5—6(—10) mm long; bracteoles ovate clasping the pedicel. Hypanthium nearly cone-shaped, 0.5-1 mm long, pubescent, sepals rounded, pubescent, gland-dotted, ciliate, in 2 dissimilar pairs, 0.5-1 mm long; petals obovate, 2-2.5 mm long; disk 1-1.5 mm wide; stamens numerous, the filaments 4-5 mm long, glabrous. Berry oblate to globose, 0.7-1 cm diam., glossy, turning from green to red and finally blackish.
Distribution and Ecology - A common tree of moist to dry evergreen forests. Cruz Bay Quarter along Center Line Road (A2808), trail to Petroglyphs (A2931). Also on Jost van Dyke, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; throughout the West Indies and Mexico to northern South America, apparently not present in Cuba.
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Discussion
Myrtus pallens Vahl, Symb. Bot. 2: 57. 1791. Eugenia pallens (Vahl) D C , Prodr. 3: 284. 1828.
Eugenia lancea Poir. in Lam., Encycl. Suppl. 3: 123. 1813. Eugenia biflora var. lancea (Poir.) Krug & Urb., Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 19: 631. 1895.
Myrcia thomasiana D C , Prodr. 3: 244. 1828.
Eugenia glabrata sensu Eggers, Fl. St. Croix 51. 1879, non (Sw.)DC, 1828.