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(Last Modified On 1/29/2013)
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(Last Modified On 1/29/2013)
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Species
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STERCULIA APETALA (Jacq.) Karst.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Fl. Colomb. 2: 35, pl. 118. 1869
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Reference
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Standley, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 27: pl. 49, 50. 1928.-Fig. 1 (A-E).
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Synonym
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Helicteres apetala Jacq., Select. Stirp. Am. Hist. 238, pl. 181. 1763. Sterculia carthagenensis Cav., Mon. Cl. Diss. Dec. 6: 353. 1788.
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Description
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Tree up to 30-40 m. high, the trunk straight, thick and often with prominently developed buttresses, the crown broad and dense. Leaves simple, large, the petiole 8-24 cm. long, stellate-villous, the blade deeply 3- to 5-palmatilobate, the broad lobes rounded to subacute, deeply cordate at the base, up to 22 cm. long and 40 cm. wide, membranous, the upper surface glabrous except near the base of the 5 main nerves, the lower surface stellate-arachnoid when young, promptly glabres- cent, the nerves slightly prominent beneath. Inflorescences axillary or subterminal, paniculate, the axes densely stellate-vi llous-arachnoid. Flowers hermaphrodite or staminate, the pedicel 1-2 cm. long; calyx campanulate, 5-lobate, 1.5-2 cm. long and 1.5-2.5 cm. wide, often somewhat larger in the hermaphrodite flowers than in the staminate ones, the lobes triangular, acute and ca. 0.7-1.2 cm. long, reddish-brown, densely puberulous and with tufted hairs outside, greenish-yellow, striped-red or maroon and glabrous inside; gonophore of the staminate flowers slender, arcuate, inflexed, ca. 1-1.2 cm. long, scatteringly papillate, sometimes loosely stellate-puberulous toward the base, the staminal tube pendulous, somewhat thicker than the gonophore, ca. 1 mm. long and densely covered with short simple hairs, the anthers 15, ca. 0.75 mm. long, the rudimentar ovary ca. 0.75 mm. broad and glabrous; gonophore of the hermaphrodite flowers like in the staminate ones but only 6-8 mm. long, the staminal tube very short, the anthers 15, around the base of the ovary and ca. 0.75 mm. long, the ovary subglobose, 5-sulcate, ca. 0.4 mm. in diam., stellate-tomentellous, 5-locular, the styles reflexed, ca. 4 mm. long and stellate-tomentellous, the stigma obscurely 5-lobulate. Follicles obovoid, ca. 6 cm. long and 4 cm. thick, tomentellous outside, the inner surface covered with a dense layer of erect, stiff, yellowish and ca. 2 mm. long prickly hairs, 2- to 4-seeded; seeds oblong-ellipsoid, ca. 2 cm. long and 1.1-1.3 cm. in diam., the testa brown or black, covered with stiff, little adhesive, prickly hairs.
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Habit
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Tree
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Distribution
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From southern Mexico through Central America to Panama, West Indies and northern South America; along rivers, in moist or dry thickets or forests.
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Note
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The common Indian name of S. apetala is panama' and the name of the country proceeds probably from this tree which is abundant in the region. The seeds, known as castanias, are oily and edible boiled or roasted; the tree is often planted for shade and the wood is sometimes used for construction purposes.
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Specimen
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CANAL ZONE: Barro, Colorado Island, Aviles 101, Wetmore & Abbe 114, Wilson 97, Woodworth & Vestal 651; Gamboa Road and Madden Dam Road near Naval Station, Harvey 5034; near Summit Gardens, Harvey 5252; Victoria Fill, near Miraflores Locks, Allen 1720; vicinity of Miraflores Lake, P. White 281; Balboa, Standley 27160, 30856. CHIRIQUi: Progresso, Cooper & Slater 301; vicinity of San Felix, alt. 100 m., Allen 3656. PANAMA: roadside near Panama Viejo, 5-10 m., Dodge 17520;- near Panama City, Mell s.n.; vicinity of Bella Vista, Piper 5327. SAN BLAS: Perm6, Cooper 652. PROVINCE UNKNOWN: Hayes 719, Sargent 15.
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