Stenostomum acutatum DC.

• Title

  Stenostomum acutatum DC.

• Author(s)

  Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne

• Scientific Name

  Stenostomum acutatum DC.

• Description

  Flora Borinqueña Stenostomum acutatum Narrow-leaved Stenostomum Family Rubaceae Madder Family Stenostomum acutatum De Candolle, Prodromus 4: 460. 1830. Stenostomum viscosum Grisebach, Flora of the British West Indian Islands 334. 1861. Antirrhoea acutata Urban, Symbolae Antillanae 1: 439. 1899. A characteristic and frequent shrub or small tree of the dry, southwestern parts of Porto Rico, growing-also on Mona, Vieques and Cayo Muertos, elsewhere only known to inhabit Guadeloupe, and the small islands Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba; its small, white flowers are not conspicuous, mostly partly hidden among the leaves. As it does not inhabit islands in which much English is spoken, we have no popular name for it in that language, nor have we found any Spanish name in use. Stenostomum (narrow-mouth) was established as a genus by the German botanist Gaertner in 1805, and includes about 15 species of trees and shrubs restricted in distribution to the West Indies. They have opposite leaves, and small flowers in axillary clusters. The calyx, attached to the ovary, is 4-toothed, or 5-toothed; the salverform, or funnelform corolla has a 4-lobed, or 5-lobed limb; the 4 or 5 stamens are borne on the throat of the corolla, with short filaments and narrow anthers; the ovary is few-celled, with 1 ovule in each cavity, and the style is slender. The fruits are small, fleshy, few-seeded. Stenostomum acutatum (sharp-pointed, referring to the calyx-lobes) is a shrub about 3 meters high, or lower, or may form a small tree up to 8 meters high; its foliage is somewhat viscid, the slender twigs finely hairy. The oblong, or lance-shaped, short-stalked, rather thick, smooth leaves are from 2 to 6 centimeters long, pointed, or blunt, and netted-veined. The slender stalks of the flower-clusters are mostly shorter than the leaves; the flowers are few in the clusters, and nearly stalkless; the narrow, pointed teeth of the calyx are about as long as its tube; the nearly white corolla is from 12 to 15 millimeters long, its lobes much shorter than the very slender tube. The ellipsoid, purple fruit is 5 or 6 millimeters long. There are 4 other species of Stenostomum in the Porto Rico Flora.