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Family: Clusiaceae
[Tovomitopsis nicaraguensis Oerst., moreTovomitopsis standleyana (L. O. Williams) W. G. D' Arcy] |
Descripción: Arbusto o árbol de 3 a 8 m de alto. Ramitas terminales glabras. El desprendimiento de cualquier parte de la planta produce una savia incolora y acuosa. Hojas simples y opuestas, de 14-27 x 6-12 cm, elípticas a oblongas, con ápice agudo o acuminado, bordes enteros y base decurrente. Pecíolo de 1-2 cm de largo. Flores cremas o verde amarillentas. Frutos en cápsulas ovoides, de 2-3 cm de largo, verdes, tornándose rosados o rojos al madurar. Semillas con arilo anaranjado. Datos Ecológicos: La especie crece a bajas y medianas elevaciones, en bosques muy húmedos o nubosos. En Panamá se encuentra en las provincias de Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, Coclé, Colón, Panamá, Veraguas y la comarca de Guna Yala. Común en las pendientes y hondonadas cercanas a los riachuelos. Florece y fructifica entre enero y octubre. Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK chr1ec Chrysochlamys eclipes LK2 , pero en C. eclipes las hojas son de mayor tamaño. Usos: No se conocen usos para la especie. Tovomita nicaraguensis (Oerst.) L. O. Wms.; Chrysochlamys eclipes L. O. Wms. Polygamous or dioecious shrub or small tree, 3-11 m tall, to 24 cm dbh, essentially glabrous; sap yellow, not copious. Petioles to 3 cm long; blades elliptic, acuminate, acute at base, mostly 12-22 cm long, 4.5-11 cm wide, moderately thick, drying brown to rusty, especially below; lateral veins in 6-11 pairs. Panicles terminal, to 16 cm long, the branches divaricate, each subtended by a small bract; pedicels stout, ca 5 mm long; flowers bisexual, ca 5 mm long, arranged in dichasia; sepals 5, reddish, broadly rounded, concave, very unequal, the outermost reduced, the inner few with the margin thin, +/- erose; petals 5, yellow, ovate, ca 4 mm long, +/- concave, thick medially, thin along the margin; staminate flowers not seen (possibly lacking); bisexual flowers with the stamens to ca 20, ca 1.5 mm long, of irregular sizes, longer and shorter ones generally alternating; filaments flattened and fused to at least the middle; pistil ca 2 mm long; stigmas 5, pitlike, subapical. Fruits red, round to obovoid, ca 2 cm long, with 5 black dots at the apex (style bases), dehiscing into 5 parts at maturity to expose seeds; valves thick, 3-4 cm long, tasting bitter even at maturity; seeds 1 per carpel, +/- oblong, black, ca 1 cm long, mounted between the wings of the 5-lobed central column, the aril white, not sweet but edible. Croat 4651, 11479,12663. Common in the old forest. Flowers from July to September. The fruits mature in late dry and early rainy seasons (March to June). It is uncertain if the species is dioecious or, as is often the case in the Guttiferae, polygamous. Nicaragua to Panama. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Bocas del Toro, and Darien and from premontane wet forest in the Canal Zone (Pipeline Road) and Panama (Cerro Jefe). See Fig. 393. Bocas Species Database Characteristics: arbusto de 2m. Latex amarillo. Flores en boton. 2m shrub. Latex yellow. Flower buds. |