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(Last Modified On 10/17/2013)
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(Last Modified On 10/17/2013)
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Genus
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Clusia L.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Sp. P1. 509. 1753
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Note
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TYPE: C. major L.
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Synonym
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Triplandron Benth., Bot. Voy. Sulphur 73, t. 38. 1844. TYPE: T. lineatum Benth. -Clusia lineata (Benth.) P1. & Tr.
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Description
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Trees or shrubs, mostly dioecious, often epiphytic, sometimes scrambling; sap often milky, white or yellowish. Leaves opposite, simple, entire, the margins often drying revolute, the costa usually evident, the lateral and minor venation mostly not apparent, on drying the lateral venation usually manifest, often anasto- mosing at the margins to form submarginal or marginal veins, the leaves some- times lineolate; petioles present and distinct or indistinct or wanting. Inflores- cences cymose, forming panicles or rarely,,reduced to solitary flowers; bracts sometimes present; scale-like bracteoles usually present at each articulation, sometimes subtending the calyx. Flowers in bud mostly globose; sepals 4-5, decussate or imbricate, rotund; petals 4-9, ovate or decussate, rotund; androe- cium in staminate flowers mostly numerous, indefinite, free, basally connate, sometimes part or all concreted into a massive "receptacle"; in pistillate flowers the staminodes often obsolete, sometimes reduced to an annulus, sometimes free; in staminate flowers the gynoecium mostly rudimentary or obsolete, in pistillate
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Habit
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Trees or shrubs
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Description
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flowers the gynoecium consisting of 4-10 basally or entirely connate carpels, the ovules mostly numerous, anatropous, subhorizontal, ascending or pendulous, the styles connate or not, sometimes obsolete, often spreading, the stigmas sessile, usually black, linear, circular or triangular. Fruit a fleshy or leathery tardily dehiscent capsule, the seeds large or small, enveloped in an often colored aril, the arils sometimes enveloping more than 1 seed.
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Note
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Clusia is distinguished by its many seeded leathery or fleshy fruits. Many species have stiffly coriaceous leaves, and many have leaves with strongly as- cending venation. The genus is confined to the New World tropics where several hundred species have been recognized. Taxonomically Clusia is an extremely difficult genus to study. Flowers are present on plants for only short periods, and they do not persist well on herbarium collections. Therefore, although flowers appear to provide a number of distin- guishing characters, most analyses must be made on the basis of fruits and veg- etative materials which present uncertain characteristics. Many species have been described from South America, but little type material was borrowed for this study. Apomicty has been suggested in more than one line (Maguire, 1978). A further complicating factor was that much material, Panamanian and other, at New York Botanical Garden and a number of type collections, out on loan from the Field Museum of Natural History since 1952 were not available for this study. In particular the types of Clusia cooperi Standley (Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Bot. Ser. 4: 234. 1929) and C. stenophylla Standley were not available. In the case of C. cooperi, based on the description alone, it was not possible to identify this taxon among currently available collections so it has been omitted entirely. In the case of C. stenophylla, the name is used for a taxon of which one collection was annotated by Maguire. The analysis provided here is highly tentative, and not all the entities recognized and names used can be considered reliable. Clusia is of minor importance to man. Some species have provided gums for caulking and materials for writing, but woods are generally not of merchantable size.
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Reference
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Britton, N. L. & C. F. Millspaugh. 1920. The Bahama Flora. New York. Maguire, B. 1978. Apomixis in the genus Clusia (Clusiaceae). Taxon 25: 241- 244. Nowicke, J. W. 1970. Photographs of the Panamanian collections of B. D. See- mann. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 57: 352-358.
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Key
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a. Leaves petiolate (either with a distinct petiole or petiolar area). b. Leaves as wide as long or nearly so, apically rounded to emarginate, coriaceous. c. Fruits more than 2 cm across; leaves with the submarginal vein obscure ...... 11. C. major cc. Fruits less than 2 cm across; leaves with submarginal vein usually conspicuous above 1 mm from the margin ......14. C. osseocarpa bb. Leaves longer than wide, apically obtuse or acute, coriaceous or not. d. Leaves blunt or rounded apically. e. Petioles more than 1.5 cm long; leaves often more than 8 cm wide ...... 10. C. longipetiolata ee. Petioles less than 1.5 cm long; leaves mostly less than 8 cm wide. f. Peduncles stout, more than 2 cm long ...... 17. C. stenophylla ff. Peduncles mostly slender, less than 2.5 cm long. g. Lateral veins appearing so numerous as to be indistinct; bark of ultimate twigs mostly exfoliating curly yellowish ...... 12. C. minor gg. Lateral veins numerous but main veins distinct at least from above; bark of twigs not exfoliating ...... 8. C. liesneri dd. Leaves sharp pointed. h. Leaves large, more than 6 cm wide with a sharp drip tip, the lateral veins nearly at right angles to the costa and with copious close minor veins running perpendicular between them ...... 5. C. divaricata hh. Leaves smaller, less than 6 cm wide, mostly lacking a sharp drip tip, the lateral nerves ascending, lacking numerous minor cross veins. i. Flower buds with perfect prefloration (outer perianth fused and tearing to permit floral egress) ...... 3. C. croatii ii. Flower buds with valvate or imbricate prefloration. j. Leaves small, mostly less than 4.5 cm wide. k. Fruits elongate ...... 6. C. dukei kk. Fruits rotund. iJ. Leaves larger, mostly more than 4.5 cm wide. 1. Lateral veins distant, mostly more than 5 mm apart, arcuate, the upper side of the leaf strongly-ascending lineolate ...... 13. C. oedematopoidea 11. Lateral veins closer, mostly straight, leaf upper sides not lineolate. m. Lateral veins appearing so numerous as to be indistinct; bark of ultimate twigs mostly exfoliating curly yellowish ...... 12. C. minor mm. Lateral veins numerous but distinct, mostly 2-3 mm apart, bark not exfoliating on twigs ...... 9. C. lineata aa. Leaves sessile (petioles less than 5 mm long), lacking a petiolar area. n. Leaves small, less than 5 cm wide, often drying pinkish. o. Venation obscure, especially above; fruits less than 1 cm across ...... 1. C. coclensis oo. Venation evident, especially above; fruits more than 1 cm across ...... 15. C. rotundata nn. Leaves larger, more than 5 cm wide, seldom drying pinkish. p. Fruit narrow, elongate; basal sides of leaf nearly straight ...... 7. C. fructiangusta pp. Fruit rotund; all sides of leaf curved. q. Fruiting styles slender, connivent, forming an anemone-like structure, the stigmas 2 mm long; bark of twigs sometimes exfoliating ...... 15. C. rotundata qq. Fruiting styles stout or obsolete, divaricate, often recurving, stigmas mostly more than 3 mm long; bark not exfoliating. r. Fruiting stigmas sessile, ca. 7 mm long, forming a ring (adaxial or apical area) 1 cm across ...... 2. C. congestiflora rr. Fruiting stigmas, shorter, on styles or not, an apical area or ring adaxial to the stigmas wanting. s. Corollas erose margined; pistillate androecium a cone-like annulus (Fig. 2E); fruit red or pink; bracts wanting or not defined; stigmas triangular ...... 4. C. cupulata ss. Corollas entire; pistillate androecium reduced to 5 low teeth; fruit yellow or green, sometimes suffused with russet; inflorescence subtended by bracts; stigmas linear ...... 16. C. salvinji
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