Samyda dodecandra Jacq.

Authority

Sleumer, Hermann O. 1980. Flacourtiaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 22: 1-499. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family

Salicaceae

Scientific Name

Samyda dodecandra Jacq.

Type

Lectotype. Plumier ed. Burman, Pl. Amer. t. 146, f. 2. 1757 (Sleumer, Taxon 5: 192-194. 1956). No original specimen or drawing preserved.

Synonyms

Samyda decandra Jacq., Samyda serrulata Sw., Samyda denticulata Poir., Samyda pubescens Desv. ex Ham., Samyda rosea Sims, Samyda rubra DC., Samyda velutina DC., Samyda denticulata Poir., Samyda tenuifolia Urb., Samyda oligostemon Urb.

Description

Species Description - Erect shrub or slender tree to 5.0 (rarely 10.0) m tall. Branchlets zigzag, densely subferrugineous-velutinous to -villous in the young, glabrescent and brownish- or whitish-corticate in the older parts. Leaves distichous, sometimes rather clustered at the branch tips due to condensation of internodes, variable in shape and size, broadly to narrowly lanceolate-ovate, oblong, oblong-elliptic, or obovate-oblong, or elliptic, apex subacuminate and acute, or obtuse or rounded, maybe a little retuse, base more or less broadly cuneate to subcordate, often oblique, chartaceous to subcoriaceous or even coriaceous, rather densely pellucid-punctate and -lineate, densely and appressedly covered with stoutish hairs, glabrescent and somewhat scabrous with age above, generally yellowish- to ferrugineous- or rarely whitish-velutinous-villous beneath especially on midrib, nerves and veins, edge a little revolute, remotely to closely glandular-denticulate or -serrate, occasionally subentire, 5.0-11.5 cm long, 3.0-7.0 cm broad, lateral nerves 6-11 (-13) pairs, ascending, more or less distinctly looping within the margin, often depressed above, distinctly raised beneath, veins scalariform, forming with the veinlets a rather dense reticulation which may be depressed above, and is always prominent beneath; petiole densely appressedly short-pubescent, 2.0-4.0(-5.0) mm long; stipules linear-lanceolate to subacicular, 1.0-3.0 mm long, caducous. Flowers 1 or 2 (rarely more) per axil, fragrant; bracts rather conspicuous, free, narrowly ovate to lanceolate, brownish, scarious, acute, keeled dorsally, densely appressed-pubescent outside, persistent, 1.0-4.0 mm long; pedicels stoutish, villous-velutinous, 1.0-3.0(-6.0) mm long. Calyx (4-)5(-6)-lobed, 10.0-23.0 mm long, greenish to reddish outside, white to pink or red inside the limb, more or less densely hairy outside, tube cylindric to campanulate, base more or less truncate, 1/3-1/2 of the total calyx length, glabrous inside, lobes elliptic to oblong, acute or obtuse, densely pubescent. Androecium fused half to almost the full length of the filaments, pubescent in- and outside or glabrous inside; stamens (6-)10-12(-13); filaments 2.0-4.0 mm long; anthers 1.0 mm long. Ovary ovoid, velutinous-villous; style glabrate; stigma depressed-globose. Fruit ovoid, ellipsoid or subglobose, rarely subobovoid, obtusely angled at the sutures, red, sparsely villous to glabrate, 6.0-23.0 mm long, valves 3-5, orange to red inside; seeds several, 2.5-3.5 mm long.

Distribution and Ecology - Widespread throughout the Greater and Lesser Antilles, from Jamaica (where probably introduced or escaped from cultivation) and E Cuba to St. Vincent, Trinidad, Bonaire and Curaçao; in lowlands and on hills in a wide variety of mostly open, dry, rocky habitats, in both primary and secondary growth; tending to be somewhat weedy, much cultivated; also on limestone and serpentine, up to ca 1000 m alt.

Discussion

In his exhaustive monograph of the genus, Kiger recognizes in Samyda dodecandra 4 morphological/geographical “phases” in this exceedingly variable species, the most polymorphic in the genus. The descriptions of these phases represent abstracted, typological averages of numerous collections, and single specimens will only rarely match them in all particularities. It is for practical reasons that these phases are not described here. Specimens intermediate between several of these phases occur and make a formal taxonomic subdivision of this complex futile. The “Cuban phase” is limited to Cuba.

Distribution

Cuba South America| Camagüey Cuba South America| Jamaica South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America| Puerto Rico South America| Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| St.Martin-St.Barthélémy South America| Saint Kitts and Nevis South America| Antigua and Barbuda South America| Montserrat South America| Guadeloupe South America| Martinique South America| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines South America| Bonaire South America| Curaçao South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America|