Guatteria caribaea Urb. — Plate, 1905

Maas, P. J. M., Westra, L. Y. T., Guerrero, S. Arias, Lobão, A. Q., Scharf, U., Zamora, N. A. & Erkens, R. H. J., 2015, Confronting a morphological nightmare: revision of the Neotropical genus Guatteria (Annonaceae), Blumea 60 (1), pp. 1-219 : 54

31. Guatteria caribaea Urb. — Plate 3a, b; Map 8

Guatteria caribaea Urb.(1905) 240;R.E.Fr.(1939) 480,f. 25b,c. — Cananga caribaea (Urb.) Britton in Britton & Wilson (1924) 311. — Type: Sintenis 1535 (lecto B, selected by Fries 1939; isolecto BM, BP, G 2 sheets, GH, JE, K, L, M, NY, P, PR, S, US, WU), Puerto Rico, Sierra de Luquillo, ‘in silvis montis Jiménes’, June 1885.

Tree 4–40 m tall, 5–60 cm diam; young twigs rather densely covered with appressed hairs, soon glabrous. Leaves: petiole 4–5 mm long, 1–3 mm diam; lamina narrowly elliptic, 8–21 by 3–8 cm (leaf index 2.2–4), chartaceous, not verruculose, dull, green to brown above and below, glabrous above, sparsely to rather densely covered with appressed hairs below but primary vein densely covered with appressed hairs, base acute, apex acuminate (acumen 10–20 mm long), primary vein impressed to flat above, secondary veins distinct, 6 –12 on either side of primary vein, raised above, smallest distance between loops and margin 5–7 mm, tertiary veins raised above, reticulate. Flowers in 1– 2-flowered inflorescences in axils of leaves or on leafless branchlets; flowering and fruiting pedicels 10–25 mm long, c. 1 mm diam, sparsely covered with appressed hairs to glabrous, articulated at c. 0.2 from the base, bracts 4–5, soon falling, lower bracts very broadly ovate, c. 1 mm long, upper- most bracts one seen, broadly ovate, c. 4 mm long; flower buds depressed ovoid; sepals free, broadly to shallowly grooved, ovate-triangular, 2–4 by 3–4 mm, appressed to spreading, sparsely covered with appressed hairs; petals white or creamy white in vivo, narrowly elliptic, 10–15 by 3–5 mm, outer side densely covered with appressed hairs; stamens c. 1 mm long, connective shield papillate. Monocarps 5 – 25, green, maturing black to purple-black in vivo, black in sicco, narrowly ellipsoid, 11–20 by 5–7 mm, sparsely covered with appressed hairs, soon glabrous, apex obtusely apiculate (apiculum <1 mm long), wall 0.3–0.5 mm thick, stipes 2–5 by 1 mm. Seed narrowly ellipsoid, 11–18 by 4–6 mm, dark brown, longitudinally and transversely grooved, sometimes also pitted, raphe not distinct from rest of seed.

Distribution — Lesser and Greater Antilles: Dominica, Gre- nada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia .

Habitat & Ecology — In dense rain forest, on clayey loam soil. At elevations of 200– 700 m. Flowering: January, March to August, November, December; fruiting: January, March to May, September, November.

Vernacular names — Bois nouè ( Jérémie 1115), Bois violin (Hill 25840, Jérémie 1115, Shillingford 450), Corcho blanco (Little Jr. 13764), Corossol montagne ( Jérémie 1115), Mahaut noir (Hill 25840), Ti-cachiman-bois (Slane 222), Wild soursop (Slane 222).

Field observations — According to Stern & Washaussen 2595 ( US) from Dominica the flowers are ‘fragrant, highly aromatic’.

Notes — Guatteria caribaea , the only species of the genus occurring in the Lesser Antilles, is recognizable by the second- ary veins which are raised on the upper side of the leaves, slender pedicels, narrowly ellipsoid monocarps on short stipes, and seeds which are mostly longitudinally and transversely grooved.

In Stern & Wasshausen 2595 ( US) the third bract from the top is more or less persisting, foliaceous, narrowly elliptic and 15– 25 mm long.

Sterile material can have leaves of up to 28 by 8 cm.

Figures

Plate 3 a, b. Guatteria caribaea Urb. a. Flowering branch; b. mature flower. – c. Guatteria costaricensis R.E.Fr. Leaves and fruit. – d. Guatteria cuatrecasasii Sánchez S.Flowering branch.– e. Guatteria dolichopoda Donn.Sm.Flowering branch and leaves.– f. Guatteria foliosa Benth.Flowering branch.– g, h. Guatteria talamancana N.Zamora & Maas. g. Flowering branch; h. flower (a, b: Graveson et al. 3093; c: Maas et al. 9392; d: R. Cámara Leret & Copete Maturana 1743; e: Maas et al. 9462; f: Mori & Gracie 23929; g, h: Monro 6108). — Photos:a, b: R.H.J. Erkens;c,e: P.J.M. Maas;d: R. Cámara Leret;f: C. Gracie; g, h:A.K. Monro.