Pouteria fossicola Cronquist
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Authority
Pennington, Terence D. 1990. Sapotaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 52: 1-750. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Sapotaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Panama. Canal Zone: Barro Colorado Island, N shore nr. Pearson terminal, Jun 1937 (fl), Salvoza 999 (holotype, A).
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Synonyms
Calocarpum fossicolum (Cronquist) Lundell, Calocarpum borucanum Standl. & L.O.Williams ex P.H.Allen, Grias megacarpa Dwyer
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Description
Species Description - Tree; young shoots puberulous (mostly appressed) with pale buff or white hairs, soon glabrous, rough, greyish, lenticellate. Leaves densely clustered, spirally arranged, 13.5-27.5 × 4.5-9 cm, oblanceolate, apex shortly narrowly attenuate to rounded, base acute to narrowly attenuate, chartaceous, glabrous, or with a few scattered appressed hairs on lower lamina; venation eucamptodromous, midrib slightly raised on the upper surface, secondary veins 13-20 pairs, parallel, straight or slightly arcuate; intersecondaries absent; tertiaries oblique; quaternaries finely areolate. Petiole 2-4.5 cm long, not or only slightly channelled, appressed pubescent to glabrous. Fascicles few-flowered, axillary and clustered below the leaves. Pedicel 2-4 mm long, appressed puberulous. Flowers bisexual. Sepals 7-8, in a closely overlapping spiral, increasing in size from outside inwards, outer ca. 2 mm long, inner 6-7 mm long, not much broader than long, apex rounded to bifid, appressed puberulous outside, margin glabrous, glabrous inside. Corolla broadly tubular, slightly expanded at the apex, 1-1.3 cm long, tube 6-8 mm long, lobes five, 3.5-5 mm long, broadly oblong, apex rounded, sericeous outside, with a broad glabrous margin, glabrous inside. Stamens five, fixed near the top of the corolla tube; filaments 2.5-4 mm long, glabrous; anthers 1.5-2 mm long, ovate to oblong, glabrous. Staminodes 2-3 mm long, subulate, slightly hairy and sometimes with an apical tuft of hairs. Disk absent. Ovary ovoid, tapering gradually to the style, five-locular, pubescent; style 4-7 mm long after anthesis, exserted or not, glabrous; style-head minutely five-lobed. Fruit 10-25 cm long, broadly ellipsoid to broadly ovoid, apex acute to obtuse, base rounded to truncate, smooth, finely to coarsely lenticellate, glabrous. Seed one, 6-7 cm long, broadly ellipsoid to obovoid, apex obtuse to rounded, base acute, testa smooth, shining, 1-2 mm thick; scar adaxial, full-length, oblanceolate (tapering from the upper half to base), 2-2.5 cm broad; embryo with planoconvex, free cotyledons, radicle extending to the surface; endosperm absent. Field characters. Tree to 30 m high and 60 cm diam. with buff- or pinkish-brown, shallowly fissured bark, scaling in rectangular pieces; slash pink, smelling of almonds, with scarce white latex. Flowers scented, greenish-cream, fruit buff-grey, smooth, lenticellate, flesh orange, smelling strongly of almonds. Flowering Nov-Jan, fruit Jan-Aug.
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Discussion
The edible fruit is said to be delicious.
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Common Names
mamey, mamey de injerto, mamey verde, Zapote
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Distribution
Central Costa Rica to central Panama, in lowland wet evergreen forest and seasonal semi-evergreen forest from sea level to 600 m altitude.
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