Flora of Dominica, Part 2 - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

158 MORACEAE-MYRICACEAE SMITHSON” CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTANY
Ficus glabrata Kunth. 1817,2:47.
Ficus kugiana Warburg in Urban, 1903,3:459.
Medium tree; leaves lightly scabrid with base rounded; figs
solitary, long-stalked, >1 cm thick.
Central America to Brazil, Montserrat to St. Vincent;
occasional in Dominica from lowlands through rainforest:
Belvedere-Delices (Whitefoord 3764), Clarke Hall (Nicolson
2005), Hatton Gardens (Hodge 3073), Layou (Ramage s.n. at
BM), Morne Plat Pays summit (Hodge I692), Picard Estate
(Nicolson 4220), Roseau Valley waterfall (Hodge 2009).
This species has been misidentified and reported from
Dominica as F. laurifolia Lamarck, a synonym of Ficus
maxima Miller. True F. maxim apparently does not reach the
Lesser Antilles. It lacks the elongate stipules of F. insipida and
has a distinctive papery petiolar epidermis that cracks and
exfoliates. Berg and DeWolf (1975232) cited Eggers 6670 (p)
from St. Vincent as F. m’m, but a duplicate (US) is clearly
F. insipida.
Ficus caribaea Jacquin (1767, 2:30) is a possible earlier
name for F. insipida, if one interprets “pedunculis simplicibus”
as “figs solitary.” This was treated as a name “deserving
oblivion” by Warburg (in Urban, 1903,3:490). The type should
be located.
Ficus obtusifolia
Ficus obtusifolia Kunth, 1817, 2:49.-DeWolf, 1960:163.-Little et al.,
1974118, pl. 292.
Urarfigma involufum Liebmann, 1851:320.
Ficus involufa (Liebmann) Miquel, 1868:298.
Ficus lvbaniana Warburg in Urban, 1903,3:459.
Ficus involufa var. whniana (Warburg) Dugand, 1943:275.
Large spreading tree; leaves large, broadly obovate, cuneate
f rounded at base; figs large, paired, sessile, each subtended by
several broad involucral bracts.
Neotropics, except Greater Antilles; in Dominica near the
coast: Belle View (Cooper 14).
This and other large-leaved species of Ficus are considered
as spirit trees by the Caribs (Hodge and Taylor, 1957553).
Dugand (1955:229), with reservations, placed Ficus urbaniana
and his F. involuta var. urbaniana in synonymy of F.
involufa. He was under the misapprehension, clarified by
DeWolf (1960:163), that F. obtusifolia, the name used here,
was a later homonym of F. obtusifolia Roxburgh. However,
Roxburgh’s name, a nomen nudum in 1814, was not validly
published until 1832.
Howard (1988,4:63) called this Ficus nymphaeifolia Miller.
That taxon, with cordate leaf bases, may well include and
intergrade with this, but I cannot accept the identification for
the Dominican specimen nor Little et al.’s illustration, both
with tapering leaf bases.
Ficus perforata
Ficusperforafa Linnaeus, 177’5:17.-DeWolf, 1960: 154.
Ficus americana Aublet, 1775:952.-Rossberg. 1935:580.-Howard, 1988,
4:58.
Ficuspallida sensu Grisebach, 1860:151, non Vahl.
Ficus omphalophora Warburg in Urban, 1903,3:487.
Ficus sintenirii Warburg in Urban, 1903, 3:464.-Little
1964:74, pl. 24.
& Wadsworth,
Small tree to 5 m; leaves obovate to elliptic, small; figs
small, paired, shortly pediceled.
West Indies, Guatemala to Colombia, in Dominica at
mid-elevations from 200-750 m: Castle Bruce Road (Ramage
s.n.), Freshwater Lake (Ernst I731), Lisdara (Cooper 192),
Point Michelle (Ramage s.n.), Riversdale (Beard 241), Syndicate
(Whitefoord 5886), Trois Pitons (Lloyd 770).
This is the smallest-leaved Ficus on Dominica.
The two competing names, F. perforata and F. americana,
include the same Plumier drawing. The Linnaean name was
published 23 Jun 1775, Aublet’s name was published on or
after June 1775, being far into the second volume, probably
after the Linnaean name.
Ficus trigonata
Ficus trigonata hnaeus, 1775:17.-DeWolf, 1960:160.-Little et al.,
1974124, pl. 125.-Berg & DeWolf, 1975:264.
Figue rouge.
Tree; leaves medium, blunt at apex and rounded to f cordate
at base; figs of medium size, k sessile, often with rim around
the apex.
Antilles and continental Caribbean coasts; lower elevations
in Dominica: Salybia (Hodge 3271), South Chiltern (Hodge
1567, sterile, provisionally determined by DeWolQ.
Sterile specimens of this may be indistinguishable from F.
obtusifolia.
MYOFQRACEAE
(by R. DeFilipps)
Bontia daphnoides
Bontia daphnoides Linnaeus, 1753:638.
Shrub or tree to 4 m; stems with conspicuous alternate leaf
scars; leaves narrowly elliptic, to 10 cm x 2 cm long,
glandular-punctuate; flowers solitary, axillary, pedicellate;
sepals acuminate, ciliate; corolla yellow, spotted with purple,
the lower lip reflexed, densely red-beard& drupe ovoid,
yellow, 1.0-1.5 cm long, beaked.
West Indies and northern South America; in Dominica in
scrub woodlands near beach or in swampland: Cabrits and
Prince Ruperts Bay (Hodge 853, 854, 3726, Nicolson 4194,
Smith 10338, Wasshausen & Ayensu 380).
MYRICACEAE
Myrica pubescens var. caracasana
Myrica pubescens var. caracasana (Kunth) A. Chevalier, 1901 :208.