Sideroxylon salicifolium (L.) Lam.
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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
Sapotaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Small tree 10-20 m tall; bark beige, smooth, the inner bark pinkish; twigs golden or whitish-pubescent, becoming glabrous, fissured and lenticellate. Leaves spirally arranged; blades 4.5 -8 x 1.5-4 cm, narrowly elliptic to elliptic, chartaceous, glabrous or puberulent beneath, the apex acute to obtuse, the base attenuate, the margins entire to crenulate; petioles 0.5-1.5 cm long. Flowers bisexual, 5-12 in the axillary clusters; pedicels 1-4 mm long, tomentose. Calyx cup-shaped, the sepals 5, 2.5-3 mm long, the outer pairs smaller than the inner ones, oblong-ovate, rounded at apex, tomentose; corolla cream-colored, glabrous, 3.5-4.5 mm long, the tube 1.3-1.5 mm long, the lobes 5, median segment rounded to elliptic, clawed at base, lateral segments narrowly lanceolate; stamens 5, the anthers 1.2 mm long, ellipsoid; staminodes 5, 1.2-2 mm long; ovary ovoid, glabrous, 5-locular, the style elongate, tapering to a punctiform stigma. Berry 1-3-seeded, ellipsoid to subglobose, 0.6-1 cm long, turning from green to reddish brown to dark brown at maturity. Seeds subglobose to ellipsoid.
Distribution and Ecology - A common tree of dry to moist forests. Cinnamon Bay (A2919), Hawksnest (A2668), Susannaberg (A5264). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; Florida, West Indies, and Central America.