Symplocos martinicensis Jacq.

• Title

  Symplocos martinicensis Jacq.

• Authors

  Nathaniel Lord Britton

• Scientific Name

  Symplocos martinicensis Jacq.

• Description

  Flora Borinqueña Symplocos martinicensis Aceituna blanca Graine bleue Family Symplocaceae Sweet-leaf Family Symplocos martinicensis Jacquin, Enumeratio Systematica Plantarum 24. 1760. Symplocos latifolia Krug and Urban, Botanische Jahrbücher 15; 354.1892. The Family Symplocaceae contains only the one genus Symplocos, its type species the one here illustrated, some 200 species have been described, most of them natives of South America, a few West Indian, and one inhabits the southeastern continental United States. There are 4 Porto Rican species, of which 3 are endemic in mountain forests; Symplocos martinicensis, a tree with pretty white flowers, grows in thickets, forests and on wooded hills in wet or moist parts of the island, from near sea-level to at least 600 meters elevation. Its further geographic distribution is on the Virgin Islands St. Thomas and Tortola, and in the Lesser Antilles, from Saba to Trinidad. English translation of the Spanish popular name is White Olive. Symplocos (Greek, connected, referring to the stamens), a genus established by the eminent botanist Jacquin in 1760, consists of trees and shrubs, with alternate leaves, and regular, perfect, white or yellow flowers, in lateral, or axillary clusters. The tube of the calyx is partly or wholly attached to the ovary, its limb 5-lobed; the corolla is 5-parted, in some species nearly to the base, or 5-lobed (rarely 6-lobed); the stamens are numerous, in several series, the filaments usually slightly united in clusters at the base of each corolla-lobe or segment; the ovary is from 2-celled to 5-celled commonly with 2 ovules in each cavity; the style and stigma are simple. The fruit is small, nearly dry, 1-seeded. Symplocos martinicensis (first known from Martinique) may form a tree about 15 meters high, but is usually lower, seldom over 7 meters. The twigs are smooth, or very finely hairy, the wood nearly white, hard, and strong. The short-stalked, thin, pointed leaves are oval, or broader above the middle than below, from 7 to 15 centimeters long. The flowers are borne few or several together in small, dense, axillary or lateral clusters; the lobes of the calyx are about 2 millimeters broad; the white corolla is from 9 to 15 millimeters long, with oblong lobes. The oblong fruit is from 9 to 13 millimeters long, bluish-black when ripe. Our illustration was first published in "Addisonia", plate 545, May, 1932.