Chrysophyllum pauciflorum Lam.
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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. St. Croix, (fl), L. C. Richard s.n. (holotype, P-LA).
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Synonyms
Chrysophyllum glabrum var. pauciflorum (Lam.) Roem. & Schult., Chrysophyllum eggersii Pierre, Chrysophyllum pauciflorum var. nervosum Pierre, Chrysophyllum pauciflorum var. krugii Pierre, Chrysophyllum krugii Pierre, Chrysophyllum microphyllum Jacq., Cynodendron pauciflorum (Lam.) Baehni
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Description
Species Description - Tree; young shoots sericeous-tomentose with rufous hairs, which turn white with age, becoming glabrous, greyish-white or buff, smooth, lenticellate. Leaves spaced, alternate and distichous, 4.6-12 × 2.4-4.5 cm, elliptic, oblong-elliptic or lanceolate, apex narrowly attenuate, base usually rounded, truncate or obtuse, rarely narrowly attenuate, usually thin-textured, not coriaceous, glabrous above, usually glabrous below or with sparse appressed whitish or rufous rather coarse indumentum, less frequently persistently sericeous; venation brochidodromous, midrib sunken on the upper surface, secondary veins 13-23 pairs, parallel, straight, often slightly impressed on the upper surface; intersecondaries long; tertiaries parallel to the secondaries and descending from the margin. Petiole 4-9 mm long, channelled, sericeous-tomentose becoming glabrous. Fascicles 2-5(-20)-flowered. Pedicel 0.4-1.1 cm long, sericeous-tomentose. Flowers bisexual. Sepals five, 1.5-2.5 mm long, broadly ovate to lanceolate, apex acute to rounded, outside rufous sericeous-tomentose, inside subglabrous. Corolla 3-4.5 mm long, tube 2-3.25 mm long, lobes five, 1-1.5 mm long, ovate or triangular, apex acute to rounded, sericeous on the lower part of the lobes and top of tube outside, glabrous inside. Stamens five, fixed at the top of the corolla tube or base of lobes; filaments 0.2-0.5 mm long, glabrous; anthers 0.5-0.75 mm long, lanceolate, glabrous. Ovary ovoid, five-locular, appressed puberulous; style 0.5-1 mm long after anthesis, glabrous; style-head minutely lobed. Fruit 1.2-1.5 cm long, ellipsoid, tapering at apex and base; smooth, glabrous, pericarp fleshy. Seed solitary, 0.8-1 cm long, narrowly ellipsoid, not laterally compressed, with a rounded apex and acute base, testa smooth, shining, with slight sculpturing on the adaxial face, 0.2-0.5 mm thick, scar basi-ventral, ca. 3 x 3 mm, cordate; embryo with thin foliaceous cotyledons and exserted radicle, surrounded by copious endosperm. Field characters. A tree to 10 m high and 15 cm diam. with pale greyish fissured bark. Rowers pale green or cream. Flowering throughout the year. A solitary fruiting record from Feb.
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Objects
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Distribution
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. A plant of semi-deciduous dry forest and thickets on hills to 750 m altitude. It is recorded from serpentine barrens in Puerto Rico (Liogier 9830).
Puerto Rico South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America|