Flora of Dominica, Part 2 - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 77 THYMELAEACEAE-TILIACEAE 217
Mahaut, bitter mahoe, maho pimente.
Dioecious shrubs or trees to 15 m with a bitter inner bark;
leaves ternate, lanceolate to elliptic, k coriaceous; inflorescence
and calyx tube pubescent, f umbellate at tips of a branching
axis; flowers white, 4-merous, female without petals, male with
tubular flowers and 8 stamens; fruit a drupe.
Northern South America through Lesser Antilles into Puerto
Rico and into southern Central America; common in Dominica
in thickets and forests, 50-700 m: Baiac (Whitefoord 4609),
Bornes (DHN!), Carib Reserve (Hodge 466,3274, Stehle 394,
Taylor 21, Chattanooga (Hodge 885), Hampstead (Lloyd 666),
Laudat (Lloyd 353, Nicolson 120), Londonderry (Chambers
2622), Point Lo10 (Ernst 1958), Rosalie (Stern & Wusshausen
2469, South Chiltem (Ernst 1871, Hodge 1534), Sylvania
(Hodge 464, 465, Webster 13409, Wilbur 7709), Woodford
Hill Estate (Ernst 1549). Flowering April-August, fruiting
July-October; most specimens are male.
The bark is used for rope and a tea is used ritually by Caribs
(Hodge and Taylor, 1957591).
Other subspecies of D. umericunu (Miller) J. Johnston occur
in the Greater Antilles, South and Central America.
TILIACEAE
Dr. W. Meijer and Mr. Manuel Martinez (University of
Kentucky) generously shared their as yet unpublished expertise.
Berryu cubensis (Grisebach) Gomez de la Maza (as
Curpodipteru floribundu Urban) was collected in the Roseau
Botanic Garden (Hodge 954).
1. Fruits linear-oblong, unarmed, dehiscent; leaves unlobed
......................... Corchorus
1. Fruits k globose, bristly, indehiscent; leaves often lobed
......................... Triumfetta
Corchorus Linnaeus
Corchorus olitorius Linnaeus, the East Indian source of jute,
a species with basal teeth of leaves prolonged into hairs, was
collected in Dominica in 1929: [Cocoa?] Centre (Anonymous
s.n. at K, from University of Birmingham). It is known to
escape but not confirmed in Dominica.
Excluded Corchorus
Corchorus uestuuns Linnaeus, another species with prolonged
basal teeth (like C. olitorius), was reported for
Dominica by VBlez (1957:115) but Martinez (1981:49)
reported it in the main Lesser Antilles only from Montserrat, St.
Vincent, Grenada, and Barbados.
Corchorus hirsutus Linnaeus, a densely stellately pubescent
species, was attributed to Dominica by Velez (1957:115 but,
according to Martinez (1981:22, fig. 2c), it has not been
collected south of St. BarthBlemy, except in Aruba, CuraGao,
and Bonaire.
Corchorus hirtus Linnaeus, a very hirsute species but with
simple hairs, was reported for Dominica by Velez (1957:115)
but Martinez (1981:103) reported it in the main Lesser Antilles
only from Guadeloupe and Martinique @uss collections).
Corchorus orinocensis Kunth, a glabrate species with 2-3
locules, was attributed to Dominica by Urban (1910,4:382) but
Martinez (198154) reported it in the main Lesser Antilles only
from Martinique and Guadeloupe (where it has not been
recently recollected). Bornstein (in Howard, 1989, 5191)
treated this as a synonym of Corchorus hirtus Linnaeus.
Corchorus siliquosus
Corchorur siliquosur Linnaeus, 1753529.
Shrub to 2 m; leaves glabrous, often small; corolla yellow;
capsule blunt (with seeds to apex), 2-locular, locules not
partitioned between seeds.
Neotropics; in Dominica a weed at low elevations: Cabrits
(Ernst 2093, Whitefoord 5267,5292), above Clarke Hall (Ernst
1529), sine loc. (fmruy s.n. at GH). Flowering in August,
fruiting in January-May.
Triumfetta Linnaeus
TriuMettu luppula Linnaeus, with no petals and 10 stamens,
was reported for Dominica by Velez (1957: 115) but there is no
confirmation.
1. Flower buds cucullate, apical parts swollen above a
constriction; stamens 10-15; fruit bodies 3-4 mm broad
and densely tomentose, spines glabrescent . .......
....................... T. rhomboidea
1. Flower buds rounded at apex; stamens (10)15-30; fruit
bodies (3)5-6 mm broad and glabrous.
2. Flower buds 14-18 mm long; petals (12)15-20(30) mm
long; stamens 25-30; fruit spines glabrescent .....
...................... I: grandifora
2. Flower buds 5-9 mm long; petals 6-10 mm long;
stamens (10)15-20(30); fruit spines retrorsely pilosulose
.................. I: semilriloba
Triumfetta grandifora
Triumfitta grandiflora Vahl, 1798. Eclog., 2:34.-Grisebach, 1859:96.-Lay,
1950:363.
Small tree to 4 m; remarkable for its large flowers and fruits.
Neotropics; in Dominica at midelevations: Syndicate (Ernst
2103, Whitefoord 3953), sine loc. (Zmruy 55,362 at K).
Triumfetta rhomboidea
Triumfetto rhomboidea Jacquin, 1760:22.-Adams,
Howard, 1989, 5197.
1972:455.-Bomstein in