Pouteria multiflora (A.DC.) Eyma

Authority

Pennington, Terence D. 1990. Sapotaceae. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 52: 1-750. (Published by NYBG Press)

Family

Sapotaceae

Scientific Name

Pouteria multiflora (A.DC.) Eyma

Synonyms

Lucuma multiflora A.DC., Achras quadrifida Griseb., Vitellaria multiflora (A.DC.) Radlk., Radlkoferella multiflora (A.DC.) Pierre, Radlkoferella guadelupensis Pierre, Radlkoferella dussiana Pierre, Radlkoferella urbani Pierre, Radlkoferella martinicensis Pierre, Radlkoferella quadrifida Pierre, Achras acana Sessé & Moc., Lucuma dussiana Pierre, Radlkoferella latifolia Fawc., Lucuma macrocarpa Huber, Sapota latifolia (Fawc.) Kuntze, Lucuma urbanii (Pierre) Pierre, Lucuma stahliana Pierre, Lucuma martinicensis Pierre, Lucuma guadrifida (Griseb.) Pierre, Lucuma multiflora var. urbani (Pierre ex) Dubard, Pouteria carabobensis Pittier, Pouteria multiflora var. urbanii (Pierre) Baehni, Pouteria multiflora var. quadrifida (Pierre ex Urb.) Baehni, Pouteria dussiana (Pierre) Stehlé, Pouteria martinicensis (Pierre) Stehlé, Pouteria macrocarpa (Mart.) D.Dietr., Radlkoferella macrocarpa (Huber) Aubrév., Pouteria huberiana Rizzini, Pouteria medicata Garcia-Barr., Pouteria officinalis Garcia-Barr.

Description

Species Description - Tree; young shoots finely appressed puberulous or subglabrous, becoming pale greyish-buff, smooth or thinly scaling, lenticellate. Leaves spaced or loosely clustered, spirally arranged, 9.5-30(-40) × 3.2-10(-13)cm, oblanceolate or rarely elliptic, apex acute, obtuse, obtusely cuspidate or rounded, base narrowly attenuate or acute, chartaceous to thinly coriaceous, glabrous; venation eucamptodromous, midrib flat (not raised on upper surface), marginal vein sometimes present, secondary veins 8-13 pairs, usually parallel, arcuate or straight; intersecondaries usually absent; tertiaries oblique, fine; lower order reticulum visible (with lens). Petiole 0.8-3.5 cm long, not channelled, subglabrous. Fascicles 2-6-flowered, axillary or borne below the leaves. Pedicel 0.4-1(-1.3) cm long, appressed puberulous or subglabrous. Flowers bisexual. Sepals four, 4-8(-ll) mm long, inner pair often slightly larger than outer, broadly ovate to suborbicular, apex rounded, appressed puberulous outside, glabrous inside, sometimes ciliate. Corolla cylindrical, 0.75-1.3 cm long, tube 4-8 mm long, lobes (4-)6 (-8), 3-5 mm long, oblong, ovate or broadly elliptic, apex obtuse to rounded, papillose. Stamens (4-)6(-8), fixed near the top of the corolla tube; filaments 1-2 mm long, geniculate at apex, glabrous; anthers 1-2.5 mm long, oblong to lanceolate, glabrous. Staminodes (4-)6(-8), 1.5-3 mm long, lanceolate-subulate, papillose. Disk absent. Ovary ovoid or globose, 4-6-locular, pubescent; style 5-7.5 mm long after anthesis, exserted or equalling the corolla, glabrous; style-head simple or capitate. Fruit 2.7-15 cm long, ellipsoid, ovoid or globose, apex rounded to shortly beaked, base rounded or truncate, smooth, glabrous. Seeds one-several (-10), 2-7.5 cm long, globose to plano-convex or shaped like the segment of an orange (depending on number of seeds), testa smooth, shining, 0.5-1 mm thick; scar adaxial, broadly oblong (when seed solitary) to covering up to two thirds of the seed surface (when two or more seeds); embryo with planoconvex, free cotyledons, radicle extending to the surface; endosperm absent. Field characters. Tree to 36 m high and 60 cm diam. with well-developed buttresses and fluted bole. Bark grey-brown to red-brown, scaling and slightly fissured, slash pinkish with copious sticky white to cream latex. Branching sympodial. Flowers white to pale greenish-cream, often strongly scented. Fruit glossy green at first, maturing yellow to orange, sometimes roughskinned. In Jamaica most flowering occurs Jul-Dec, with fruit maturing Dec-May, elsewhere throughout its Caribbean and Continental range flowering is most frequent from Dec-Jul, with mature fruit recorded throughout the year. As with other large-fruited species of Pouteria, such as P. lucuma, the trees may carry fruit in all stages of development at any one time.

Discussion

The timber of this species is utilized in the Windward Islands, and the large sweet edible fruit is appreciated throughout its range. According to Garcia-Barriga (1975: 371), the plant is also important as a medicinal. In Cundinamarca, Colombia, the macerated fruits and seeds have effective anti-convulsive properties, and are used for epileptic fits.

Distribution and Ecology: Jamaica, Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles, northern S America from Venezuela to Panama, Colombia to Peru. Introduced in Bermuda and Brazil. The specimen from the Dominican Republic (Ekman H 11187) cited by Cronquist (1946a: 280) is Sideroxylon portoricense. Common in forest over limestone in Jamaica from sea level to 1000 m altitude. Elsewhere a component of wet lowland evergreen rain forest and montane forest, ascending to 2000 m altitude in Colombia and Venezuela, and sometimes occurring in secondary vegetation derived from the latter forest types.

Common Names

bully tree, caimitillo, caimito, caimito del monte, choky apple, cutitiriba grande, galimento, garcigonzalez, jacana, kaashi baratji, lengua de vaca, lenguevaco, Logma, lucuma, lucma chuncha, lucma, maicillo, mun dupi, penny-piece, savanna bully tree, sorocloco, trompillo, white bully tree

Objects

Specimen - 1443158, W. H. Harris 10269, Pouteria multiflora (A.DC.) Eyma, Sapotaceae (269.0), Magnoliophyta; West Indies, Jamaica

Specimen - 1443111, H. H. Smith 472, Pouteria multiflora (A.DC.) Eyma, Sapotaceae (269.0), Magnoliophyta; West Indies, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Distribution

Panama Central America| Colón Panama Central America| San Blás Panama Central America| Darién Panamá Central America| Jamaica South America| Clarendon Jamaica South America| Hanover Jamaica South America| Manchester Jamaica South America| Saint James Jamaica South America| Saint Ann Jamaica South America| Trelawny Jamaica South America| Puerto Rico South America| Dominica South America| Grenada South America| Guadeloupe South America| Martinique South America| Saint Lucia South America| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines South America| Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America| Cundinamarca Colombia South America| Santander Colombia South America| Venezuela South America| Carabobo Venezuela South America| Distrito Federal Venezuela South America| Lara Venezuela South America| Miranda Venezuela South America| Sucre Venezuela South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| Ecuador South America| Morona-Santiago Ecuador South America| Napo Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Amazonas Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| San Martín Peru South America| Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America|