Sideroxylon
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Authority
Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.
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Family
Sapotaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Unarmed, hard-wooded, evergreen trees or shrubs, with alternate coriaceous, slender-petioled leaves, and small, 5-parted, greenish-yellow or white flowers in dense axillary or lateral fascicles. Sepals mostly obtuse, imbricated. Corolla nearly rotate, its lobes obtuse, not appendaged. Stamens borne near the middle or top of the corolla-tube, included, opposite the lobes; filaments slender; anthers extrorse; staminodia entire or toothed, alternating with the filaments. Ovary 5-celled or sometimes 2-3-celled; ovules ascending; style short or slender. Berry ovoid or subglobose, usually 1-seeded. Seed with a crustaceous testa and cartilaginous endosperm. [Greek, referring to the hard wood.] About 75 species, natives of warm and tropical regions. Type species: Sideroxylon inerme L.