Flora of Dominica, Part 2 - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

154 MELAST~~UTACEAE-MELIACEAE SMITHSONTAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY
rounded to obtuse, to 18 cm x 10 cm; petiole to 8 cm; cyme
corymbose, to 12 cm; hypanthium 1 mm; calyx 1.5 mm,
slightly lobed; petals 2 mm, white or yellow; fruit black, to 7
mm.
Lesser Antilles; common on Dominica in woods and
roadsides to 600 m: Anse du Me (Wilbur 8305), Bibiay River
(Chambers 2724), Blenheim Estate (Cooper 130), Delices
(Whitefoord 3697), Deux Branches (Ernst 1668), Fonde Hunte
Estate (Whitefoord 4438), Grand Bay (Ernst 1068), Hampstead
(Lloyd 659), La Ronde (King 6365), Laudat (Eggers 106, s.n.),
Layou River (Ernst 1990, Stern & Wusshuusen 2386, Webster
13281), Morne Aux Diables (Wilbur 8056), Petit SoufriereBay
(Stern & Wasshuusen 2468), Pointe Guignard (Wilbur 7616),
Pointe Michel (Gillis 8136), Rosalie (King 6374, Lloyd 708),
Salisbury (Whitefoord 4528), Salybia (Chambers 2630, Hodge
3345), South Chiltern (Hodge 1560, Stern & Wasshuusen
2499), Sylvania (Cooper 74), sine loc. (Eggers 741, Zmray 56
at IS,photo at GH). Flowering throughout the year, ripe fruit in
June-August and January.
Tibouchina Aublet
Tibouchina ornata
Tibowhim ornafa (Swartz) Baillon, 1878:74.-Howard, 1972399; 1989,
5579.
Melastoma ornarum Swartz, 1788:69, “ornata.”
Rhexia sirigosa L Richard, 1792108.
Chaerogastra chironioides Grisebach, 180267.
Tibouchina srrigosa (L. Richard) Cogniaux in A.L. & A.C. Candolle, 1891,
7:m.
Tibouchina chironioides (Grisebach) Cogniaux in A.L. & A.C. Candolle, 1891,
7:267.--Domin. 1930b:35.-Howard, 1972400. 1989,5577.
Shrub to 1 m, sometimes decumbent or matted, branchlets
strigose, 4-angled; leaves 1 (3)-veined, lanceolate to ovatelanceolate,
with semiadnate dorsal bristles, to 8 mm x 2.5 mm;
cyme few-flowered, hypanthium 5 mm, strigose; sepals 5 mm,
strigose, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, persistent; petals to 1.4
cm, broad-ovate, ciliate, bright magenta; anthers yellow;
capsule 7 mm x 4 mm, its netted venation long-persistent.
St. Kitts, Montserrat, Guadeloupe; on Dominica at upper
elevations, 600-1400 m: near Freshwater Lake (Chambers
2569, Eggers 714 at GH, Ernst 2169, Fosberg 48275, 48276,
Hodge 1860 at GH, Lloyd 304, Wusshuusen & Ayensu 329,
Whitefoord 3796), Wilbur 8244, Morne Trois Pitons (Ernst
1220, Hodge 530 and 1384 at GH, Kimber 973 at GH, Nicolson
1818), Valley of Desolation (Hodge 1936, Whitefoord 5477),
sine loc. (Fishlock s.n., Haveis 30). Apparently flowering and
fruiting throughout the year but best flowering specimens
collected June-August.
The narrowly leaved element called Tibouchina chironioides
has been regarded as a Dominican endemic by most authors
(Cogniaux, Domin, Howard). A key difference used by these
authors was expressed by Howard (1989, 5576) as “leaves
clearly acrodromous with 1-2 pairs of basal veins” is effective
for distinguishing relatively large-leaved tam (leaves 1 cm or
broader) such as T cistoides of St. Vincent and weedy T
longifoliu. The microphyllous taxa (leaves 0.5 cm or narrower)
are easily distinguished from each other by the remarkable
bristly hairs on the upper leaf surface, the almost wholly adnate
hairs of I: chamaecistus (free only beyond the leaf-margin) vs.
the half-adnate hairs of I: ornutu and I: chironioides (free well
before the leaf-margin).
The narrowly leaved aspect called Z chironioides appears to
be a repeatedly collected population growing around Freshwater
Lake, historically the most accessible high elevation
collecting locality of Dominica. Specimens from other localities
(Trois Piton and Valley of Desolation) have a different
aspect approaching the “classic” I: ornatu of other islands,
including ovate, triplinewed leaves and spreading, glandular
hypanthial hairs (Nicolson 1818, pro parte). While the narrowly
leaved population found around Freshwater Lake might be
worthy of recognition at some infraspecific rank within T.
ornatu, it probably should not be regarded as a separate species
without more study and material of the more inaccessible
populations of Dominican Tibouchina.
The report of 1: ornata from Antigua (Gillis 8242 at GH) is
almost certainly a labeling error and the specimen probably was
actually collected on Dominica, as pointed out by Howard (1.c.)
and, specifically, around Freshwater Lake. It is possible that
this is the correct label information for Gillis 8228, which is
cultivated Clerodendron wallichii but was said to come from
“near Freshwater Lake on top of mountain.”
MELIACEAE
Sandoricum koetjupe (N. Burman) Merrill (including Sundoricum
indicum Cavanilles), a native of Asia, is cultivated
pantropically and in the Roseau Botanic Gardens (Hodge
3947). It has trifoliolate, pubescent leaves and a yellow drupe
to 7.5 cm wide.
Swieteniu, mahogony, has even-pinnate leaves with unequal
leaflets and differs from Cedrela in having entirely united
staminal filaments and winged seeds 5-9 cm long. Swietenia
mucrophyllu G. King, a Central and South American species, is
cultivated at Cassada Gardens (Nicolson 2085) and on the West
Cabrit (Nicolson 1912). It has leaflets 7-15 cm x 3-7 cm, not
revolute at the base, and capsules 12-15 cm long. Swietenia
mhugoni (Linnaeus) Jacquin, native to the Antilles, is
cultivated in the Roseau Botanic Garden (Hodge s.n.) and on
the East Cabrit (Whitefoord 5255). It has smaller (2-7 cm x
1-4 cm) leaflets, revolute at the base and capsules only 6-10
cm long.
1. Leaves 2-3-pinnate; leaflets serrate . . . . . . . . Melia
1. Leaves 1-pinnate; leaflets entire.
2. Leaves odd-pinnate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tnchilia
2. Leaves even-pinnate.
3. Leaflets unequal at base; filaments free above; seeds
winged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cedrela