Licania ternatensis Hook.f.

  • Authority

    Prance, Ghillean T. 1972. Chrysobalanaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 9: 1-410. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Chrysobalanaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Licania ternatensis Hook.f. ex Duss

  • Type

    Types. Duss 2868, Guadeloupe, fl (isosyntypes, NY, US); Duss 1903, Martinique, fl (isosyntypes, NY, US).

  • Synonyms

    Licania hypoleuca Benth.

  • Description

    Description - Medium-sized tree, the young branches puberulous, becoming glabrous and lenticellate with age. Leaves ovate-elliptic, coriaceous, 4.5-17.0 cm long, 2.0-8.0 cm broad, acuminate at apex, with acumen 8.0-18.0 mm long, rounded and subconduplicate at base, glabrous on upper surface, the lower surface with short gray lanate-arachnoid pubescence; midrib glabrous and more or less plane above; petioles 3.0-6.0 mm long, glabrous, eglandular, terete or slightly canaliculate, rugose. Stipules ca 1.0 mm long, lanceolate, coriaceous, persistent, adnate to extreme base of petiole. Inflorescences terminal and axillary panicles, the rachis and branches tomentellous to puberulous. Flowers ca 1.5 mm long, in cymules on long slender peduncles attached to primary inflorescence branches. Bracts and bracteoles 0.2-0.8 mm long, persistent, puberulous. Receptacle campanulate, tomentellous on exterior and within; pedicels ca 0.25 mm long. Calyx lobes acute, tomentellous on both surfaces. Petals absent, Stamens 3-5, unilateral; filaments shorter than calyx lobes, glabrous, free to base. Ovary inserted at base of receptacle, tomentose. Style rising to base of filaments, sparsely pubescent throughout. Fruit pyriform, 2.0-2.5 cm long; epicarp rufous-tomentose; mesocarp thin, fleshy; endocarp hard, thin, woody, hirsutulous within.

  • Discussion

    As the vernacular names suggest the wood is very hard. It is used for subterranean and submerged structures as well as to make charcoal.

    The differences between this species and L. membranacea are very small, but as they appear to be constant, the two are retained separately. The name L. ternatensis is that of Duss (1897), who must be regarded as the author, rather than Urban who did not describe L. ternatensis until 1907 but to whom the epithet has been attributed in most earlier works. Urban also noted that L. ternatensis allegedly grew in Trinidad, but that he had not seen the material. All material from Trinidad named L. ternatensis that I have examined actually belongs to L. membranacea. Licania ternatensis, as defined here, appears to be confined to the Antilles. It differs from L. membranacea in the shorter petioles which are not conspicuously canaliculate, the tomentose, more densely pubescent branches of the inflorescence, and the more triangular leaves.

  • Common Names

    Bois diable, Bois de masse, Bois fer, Bois gris, Bois résolu

  • Distribution

    Forests and forested slopes of the Lesser Antilles from Guadeloupe to Grenada.

    Guadeloupe South America| Dominica South America| Saint Lucia South America| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines South America| Grenada South America|