Asimina tetramera Small

This collectiori, Smali s.n. 19 July 1924,
is not thè type of Asimina, -tetramera Small.
The type specimen was collected on
26 July 1924, per description in
Torreya 26: 56. 1926. The type collection
is in the picklëd collection.
ver. M. A. Wetter 11/1984
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
With the Cooperation of Charl.es Deering
EXPLORATION OF PENINSULAR FLORIDA
.....GC*
Scrub near Rio
JOHN K. SMALL
JOHN W. SMALL
JOHN B. DeWINKELER
Collectors
JULY 19, 1924
BRITTONIA
[vol. 12
older twigs glabrous, gray; that of second year wood glabrous, reddish-brown
or light brown, with raised pale lenticels; that of young shoots sparsely red-
toraentulose toward the tips; leaves coriaceous, oblanceolate to elliptic or
elliptic-spatulate, 5-10 cm long on undisturbed shrubs (-15 or -18 cm long
on disturbed shrubs); apex rounded to obtuse; base acutely narrowing to the
petiole 2-3 mm long; margin slightly revolute; surface glabrous and rich
green above, glabrate and paler green below, the reticulation evident; flowers
pale to deep maroon, 2.5-3 cm broad, fetid, nodding or sub-erect on glabrate
’ peduncles 1-2 cm long, these arising from the leaf axils on rfew growth; sepals
three or four, about 1 cm long, elliptic or ovate, sparsely rusty-hairy along
the veins on the outer surface, glabrous within; outer petals flesh-pink toward
the tips| shading to maroon or maroon-striped toward the bases, 2-2.5 cm long,
lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, slightly revolute and recurved, sparsely stippled *
with pale hairs without, glabrous within; inner petals about half the length
of the outer, maroon, ovate-acute or acuminate, saccate-based, revolute, and
sharply recurved; androecium globular, 0.8-1.1 cm broad, pale green to pinkish
• at anthesis; gynoecium of from 3-11 narrowly fusiform glabrate carpels;
fruit 5-9 cm long, oblong-cylindric with a prominent ventral suture, smooth to
rugose, yellow-green when ripe; seeds 1-2 cm long, castaneous, in two irregular
rows.
-- Sands of ancient coastal dunes, Martin and Palm Beach Counties, peninsular
Florida. Flowering from May through August, or all year if disturbed.
Type: Florida: Martin Co.: St. Lucie River, “ancient dunes, scrub, near
the estuary,** 19 July 1924, .7. K. Small (Ilolotype, NY; isotypes seen at GH,
US). The holotype, supposedly at NY, has not been located. A topotype, widely
distributed, is Krai 2516. Tills	is tJaf fye * JjfA ¡¿sat
... Florida: Martin Co.: Jensen Beach, 26 Jan 1940, Busirell (MIAMI); scrub near Bio,
19 Jul 1924, Small (GH, US); Jensen Beai-h Community, Krai 2517; ancient dunes, Rio,
Krai 2235. Palm Beach Co.: Palm Beach, Krai 5372.
-j::~~Asimina tetramera is .one of the most distinctive species of the genus. It
has thus far been collected only from the dune-scrub country in the coastal
> strip of eastern Florida which extends from just north of Stuart south to West
* Palm Beach. Small’s keen eyes were the first to perceive it, in the dunes
near Rio, a beach community just north of Stuart. According to his diagnosis,
¿-V flowers of this species are exclusively four-merous. This is not the case; about
^ as many three-merous as four-merous flowers may be found in one population,
y:;? Small accurately noted the resemblance between A. tetramera and A. pygmaea.
- Both have maroon-pigmented, fetid smelling flowers with the same general
? • petal outline. Yet the two are distinct in that the pygmy is indeed true to its
name, whereas older individuals of A. tetramera may reach heights of ten feet
and have a mueh larger gynoecium.
Asitnina tetramera reacts as vigorously to disturbance as do the other species,
sprouting quickly from the cut or burned-back stumps to reach up to 2 meters
in height in one growing season. On such sprouts a complete cycle of flowering
and fruiting may be observed. The taste of the ripe fruit, resembles that of the
other Florida species-that is to say, palatable but not pleasant. The only other
species of Asimina known to occur in the same general area is A. reticulata;
there is no morphological similarity between the two, nor is there any evidence
that they hybridize.
The New York Botanical Garden
key west
00024375