Myrcia splendens (Sw.) DC.

  • Family

    Myrtaceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Myrcia splendens (Sw.) DC.

  • Primary Citation

    Prodr. (DC.) 3: 244. 1828

  • Basionym

    Myrtus splendens Sw.

  • Common Names

    punchberry, spike milfoil, punchberry, hoja menuda, rama menuda, punch berry

  • Description

    Author: Maria Lúcia Kawasaki

    Description: Shrubs or trees ca. 7 m tall. Leaves: petioles to 3 mm long; blades narrowly elliptic to elliptic or ovate to lanceolate, 5-13 × 2-4 cm, drying brownish green or olive-green above, paler below, chartaceous, usually glabrous above, appressed-pubescent to puberulous below, indistinctly pellucid-punctate on both surfaces, the base usually obtuse, the apex acuminate; midvein impressed on the upper surface; lateral veins numerous pairs, slightly salient on both surfaces; marginal vein 1, 1-2 mm from margin. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, paniculate, multiflorous, 4-8 cm long, the axes appressed-pubescent; bracteoles lanceolate, ca. 1 mm long; buds subglobose, 2-3 mm long; hypanthium not prolonged above ovary apex, yellowish-sericeous; calyx-lobes broadly ovate, 1-2 mm long, sericeous; petals 2-3 mm diam., sericeous without; stamens 4-5 mm long; style 4-5 mm long. Fruits ellipsoid, ca. 1 cm long, appressed-pubescent; seeds ca. 8 mm long.

    Common names: Guayabillo, murta.

    Distribution: Mexico, Central and South America, and West Indies.

    Ecology: Cloud forest, disturbed rain forest on steep, N-facing andesitic slope.

    Phenology: Fl and fr in Aug.

    Pollination: No observations recorded.

    Dispersal: No observations recorded but eaten by animals, especially birds, and the seed most likely dispersed by them.

    Taxonomic notes: This species is very similar to the South American Myrcia fallax and may be conspecific with it. This species description was prepared for the Plants and Lichens of Saba project and most accurately describes it as it occurs on this island.

    Uses: None recorded.

    Etymology: The epithet most likely refers to the beauty of the plant.

  • Floras and Monographs

    Myrcia splendens (Sw.) DC.: [Manuscript] Britton, Nathaniel L. Flora Borinqueña.

    Myrcia splendens (Sw.) DC.: [Article] Maguire, Bassett. 1969. The botany of the Guayana Highland-part VIII. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 18: 1-290.

  • Narratives

    Hoja menuda

    Myrcia splendens (Sw.) DC.