Sapium

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Euphorbiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Sapium

  • Description

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    Genus Description - Monoecious, glabrous shrubs or trees, producing abundant, toxic, milky latex. Leaves simple, alternate, entire; petioles a pair of glands at apex; stipules minute, deciduous. Flowers apetalous, without nectary disk, in terminal, bisexual spikes. Staminate flowers congested at distal nodes, subtended by a biglandular, minute bract; calyx of 2 minute sepals; stamens 2, the filaments free; pistillode absent. Pistillate flowers solitary at nodes of lower half of spike; calyx of 2 or 3 sepals; ovary ovoid, of 3 uniovulate carpels, the styles connate at base. Fruit a nearly globose capsule, with 1-seeded locules, dehiscent from the apex; seeds with a fleshy, reddish coat, often only 1 seed fully developed.

    Distribution and Ecology - A genus of about 80 species of tropical America.