Sideroxylon contrerasii (Lundell) T.D.Penn.
-
Authority
Pennington, Terence D. 1990. Sapotaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 52: 1-750. (Published by NYBG Press)
-
Family
Sapotaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Synonyms
Bumelia contrerasii Lundell, Dipholis contrerasii (Lundell) Lundell, Pouteria odorata Lundell
-
Description
Species Description - Tree; young branches glabrous, or rarely minutely puberulous at first, smooth, green, becoming greyish or brown and eventually finely cracked and fissured, usually without lenticels. Unarmed. Leaves spirally arranged, loosely clustered at the stem apex, 7-21 × 3-7.5 cm, elliptic to oblanceolate, apex usually acute, less frequently attenuate, obtuse or rounded, base usually narrowly attenuate or cuneate, less frequently acute, chartaceous, glabrous or rarely minutely puberulous on the midrib; venation eucamptodromous, marginal vein obscure or absent, but margin usually slightly revolute, midrib flat on upper surface; secondary vein (6-)8-l 1 pairs, ascending, usually arcuate, convergent or almost parallel; intersecondaries small or absent; tertiaries oblique to horizontal, often rather few, quaternary reticulum sometimes prominent on the lower surface; leaf base usually decurrent into the petiole. Petiole 0.4-1.6 cm long, not channelled, broadened by the decurrent leaf base, glabrous. Flowers bisexual, mostly in the axils of fallen leaves, in fascicles of 5-25. Pedicel 0.4-1.2 cm long, glabrous. Sepals five, (2)3-4 mm long, broadly ovate or elliptic to orbicular, apex rounded, the innermost with sparse appressed indumentum outside. Corolla 4.5-6 mm long, tube 1.5-2.5 mm long, lobes five(six); median segment ovate or elliptic, rounded; lateral segments narrowly lanceolate, irregularly toothed or erose, 1.5-3 mm long; sparse long tangled hairs usually present around the base of filaments and staminodes. Stamens five(six), glabrous; filaments 2-3.5 mm long, anthers 1.2-2 mm long, lanceolate-sagittate. Staminodes five(six), 2-3 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, infolded, margin toothed or erose, glabrous or with a few long hairs near the base. Ovary slender ovoid, (4-)5-locular, glabrous; style 1.5-3 mm long after anthesis, glabrous; style-head simple. Fruit 2.3-2.7 cm long, ellipsoid, apex acute or obtuse, base acute or obtuse, smooth, glabrous; pericarp fleshy, 0.5-2 mm thick. Seed solitary, 1.8-2 cm long, broadly ellipsoid, rounded at both ends; testa hard, shining, smooth, ca. 0.5 mm thick; scar adaxial, elliptic, ca. 1.6 × 0.9 cm; embryo vertical with planoconvex cotyledons and included radicle, surrounded by a thin sheath of endosperm. A tree to 40 m high and 70 cm diam. Larger specimens have short buttresses. The bark is thick, dark greyish to reddish-brown, slightly scaly, with pale straw-colored slash with an unpleasant smell. It contains a small amount of sticky white latex. The main branches tend to be whorled and the ultimate branching is sympodial. In the field the foliage of this species can be confused with that of S. portoricense subsp. minutiflora but they can be immediately distinguished by the bark and slash characters. The bark of S. contrerasii is only slightly scaly with straw colored slash and an unpleasant smell, while in S. portoricense subsp. minutiflorum the bark is more strongly scaly or fissured, with a reddish or pink slash, and lacking an unpleasant smell. The flowers are yellowish- or greenish-white. Most flowering is recorded in the period Mar-Jun. Ripe fruits have been collected in Jan, Apr and Sep.
-
Common Names
Cquej, quej, tempiste, Zapotillo
-
Distribution
Atlantic slopes of Mexico, Guatemala and Costa Rica with two recent records from Cerro Jefe, Panama. A species of tropical rain forest (selva alta perennifolia) and montane rain forest, ascending to 1500 m altitude. In Hidalgo (Mexico) it is recorded in oak woodland at 1800 m (Hernandez R. & R. 4188).
Mexico North America| Oaxaca Mexico North America| Veracruz Mexico North America| Guatemala Central America| Baja Verapaz Guatemala Central America| Izabal Guatemala Central America| Petén Guatemala Central America| Costa Rica South America| Cartago Costa Rica Central America| Panama Central America| Panamá Panama Central America|