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(Last Modified On 3/28/2013)
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(Last Modified On 3/28/2013)
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Genus
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Casearia Jacquin
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PlaceOfPublication
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Enum. Syst. P1. Ins. Carib. 4, 21, 1760
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Reference
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Select. Stirp. Amer. Hist. 132, 1763.
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Description
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Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate, distichous, petiolate, the stipules usually very small and early caducous, rarely persistent, the blade entire-margined or the margins crenate or serrate, often pellucid-punctate and/or striate. Flowers axillary, mostly in fascicles or glomerules, rarely solitary, sometimes in corymbose or panicu- late inflorescences, , small, usually greenish or yellowish; pedicels articulated, bracteate at the base, the bracts usually numerous, scale-like and often forming a cushion in the leaf axils; sepals 4-6(-9), imbricate, more or less united at the base into a short or rather elongated calyx tube, persistent or sometimes slightly accrescent; petals absent; stamens (5-)6-15(-22), 1-seriate, inserted on the tube of the calyx or at its base, alternating with as many staminodes, these inter- or intrastaminal, clavate or flattended and often pilose especially at the apex; filaments equal or alternately unequal, free or united among themselves and with the staminodes at the base into a more or less perigynous tube; anthers smafl, elliptic or subglobose, sometimes apically and dorsally glandulose; ovary free, 1-locular, the ovules usually numerous on 3-4 parietal placentas; style simple or divided at the apex into 3 branches, the stigmas 1 or 3, capitate. Fruit a dry or succulent capsule, 3-4-valved (3-angled when fresh, often 6-ribbed when dry); seeds few to numerous, with a fleshy aril, the testa coriaceous or crustaceous; endosperm fleshy, embryo straight, cotyledons flat.
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Key
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a. Stigma 1; staminodes interstaminal (sect. Pitumba).
b. Inflorescences fasciculate; seeds without resinous glands.
c. Fascicles distinctly pedunculate, the peduncles to 4 mm long -... 1. C. arborea
cc. Fascicles sessile or nearly so,
d. Branchlets densely tawny-tomentellous; leaves conspicuously dis-
colorous .......... 2. C. grandiflora
dd. Branchlets minutely pubescent to inconspicuously puberulous; leaves
not conspicuously discolorous.
e. Sepals 5-7 mm long, united at the base into a tube 1-1.5 mm
long; leaf blades with the margins sharply serrate .-.. 3. C. arguta
ee. Sepals 4.5-5.5 mm long, scarcely united at the base.
f. Pedicels ca 2-3 mm long, articulated below the apex; branches
often with stout, spreading spinescent twigs; stipules deltoid,
ca 1.5 mm long; leaf blades ? distinctly crenate -. 4. C. stjohnii
ff. Pedicels to 6 mm long, articulated ca 2-2.5 mm above the
base; twigs without spines; stipules subulate, 2-5 mm long;
leaf blades serrulate-denticulate - 5. C. guianensis
bb. Inflorescences cymose-corymbiform; seeds with the testa covered with
numerous, dark, resinous glands -.. 6. C. nitida
aa. Stigmas 3; staminodes more or less intrastaminal or intrastaminal.
g. Style simple; leaves copiously pellucid-punctate; sepals 2-3 mm long; anthers
didymous, subglobose, with a dorsal, apical gland; staminodes + intra-
staminal (sect. Crateria) .... ............................ 7. C. sylvestris
gg. Style divided at the apex into 3 branches; leaves without pellucid dots;
didymous, subglobose, with a dorsal, apical gland; staminodes more or less intra-
staminal (sect. Piparea) .-.-... 8. C. commersoniana
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Distribution
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About 250 species in the tropics and subtropics of both hemispheres.
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Note
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The genus is badly in need of a comprehensive revision, "for some of the common species have been repeated by various authors under several different names" (cf. Bentham, Jour. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 5 (Suppl. 2): 88, 1861). Eight species are reported here from Panama, while a few other species occur in Central America, north of Panama.
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