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(Last Modified On 9/19/2013)
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(Last Modified On 9/19/2013)
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Genus
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Jacquinia L.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Fl. Jam. 27. 1759, "Jaquinia."
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Note
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TYPE: J. ruscifolia Jacq. - J. aculeata (L.) Mez.
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Synonym
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Bonellia Bert. ex Colla, Hortus Ripul. 21. 1824. TYPE: B. cavanillesii Colla, nom. illeg. = J. macro- carpa Cav.
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Description
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Glabrate shrubs or small trees; wood brittle. Leaves mostly alternate or pseu- doverticillate, entire, spinulose tipped, mostly coriaceous and rigid, short petio- late; stipules acicular, or wanting. Inflorescences short racemes or rarely solitary flowers, mostly terminal or nearly so; stipuliform bracts sometimes present; brac- teoles wanting. Flowers mostly perfect, 5-merous, either white or orange; calyx with sepals free or basally connate, imbricate, rotund, sometimes ciliate or cren- ate; corolla salverform, the tube straight, campanulate or urceolate, the lobes imbricate, rotund, thick but thinning at the margins; staminodes 5, resembling the corolla lobes, connate to the top of corolla tube but free above, sometimes dorsally appendaged; the filaments flat, narrowing upwards, basally connate into a tube which is basally adnate to the corolla tube, the anthers ovate, pointed, exserted, the thecae separated dorsally, longitudinally dehiscent, nearly basi- fixed; ovary conical unilocular, the ovules many, the style not demarcated from the ovary, the stigma peltate, entire or minutely lobed. Fruit a coriaceous berry, ovoid, elliptical or globose, sometimes cuspidate, the pericarp thick; seeds large, 1-numerous, immersed in a spongey or mucilaginous pulp.
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Habit
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shrubs or small trees
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Note
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a genus of about 30 species
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Distribution
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Central America and the Caribbean region.
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Note
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Species of Central America and some from South America and the Greater Antilles have orange flowers while most of the others from the Antilles and northern South America have white flowers. The flower color seems to speak for a separation of the genus into two reasonable groups. The orange flowered species ar e difficult to separate, and while there is considerable variation between populations and individuals, and some populations seem to represent quite different species from others, it is nevertheless extremely difficult to find separation points in the more or less continuous variation. Keys produced by Mez (1903) and Votsch (1904) are difficult to use and may not reflect differences between valid species. Jacquinia in Panama is usually easy to recognize by its spine-tipped coria- ceous leaves, bright orange flowers, globose, rotund fruits, and coastal habitat. Only one species is present. Species of this genus have been used in many places as barbascos or fish poisons.
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Tag
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