Flora of Dominica, Part 2 - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 77 EUPHORBIACEAE-F~ACEM 89
Sapium Browne
Sapium canbaeum
Sopiwn caribaewn Urban, 1902,3:308.-Jablmski, 1%8:409.
La glu, la gluie.
Monoecious, deciduous, glabrous tree to 20 m with white
latex; petioles biglandular at apex; leaf-blade elliptic -oblong,
apex acute to acuminate (not cucullate), entire to crenulate, to
19 cm long; racemes to 25 cm long; capsule 5 cm in diameter;
seed coat fleshy.
Lesser Antilles; in Dominica a scattered, deciduous element
in humid areas to 800 m: Clarke Hall (Ernst 1714, Stern 2443).
Freshwater Lake (Ernst 1781), La Chaudiere (Hodge 3616),
Macoucherie River bridge (Ernst 1761), Magua (Taylor 133),
Mome Micotrin (Wilbur 7461), Salybia (Hodge 3362), Syndicate
(Whitefoord 3521). Leafs out in May, flowering soon after.
The white sap is used by Caribs as a bird lime (Hodge and
Taylor, 1957576).
The typification has been challenged by Kruijt and Zijlstra
(1 989).
Sebastiania Sprengel
Sebastiania hexaptera
Sebartiania hemptero Urban, 1902,3:3M.Stehl6, 1962a:321.-Whitefoordd,
1989:149.
Dioecious, slender shrub or tree to 3 m; leaves opposite,
short-petioled, margins with shallow, glandular crenulations;
male flowers in thin spikes to 3 cm long, usually with 3 sepals
and 3 stamens; female flowers to 3, styles 3, entire.
Guadeloupe and Martinique; new record for Dominica from
NW rainforest -800 m: Syndicate, i.e., slopes of Mome
Diablotins (Whitefoord 3649,4333,4334).
Tragia Linnaeus
Tragia volubilis
Trogio volubilis Linnaeus, 1753:980.-Webster
1968:291.
in Webster & Burch,
Fireman.
Monoecious, herbaceous twining vine with stinging hairs;
leaf-blade lanceolate, serrate, acuminate; female flowers solitary
on long pedicels (to 5 cm in fruit); male flowers shortly
pedicellate on separate racemes; capsules covered with stinging
hairs, to 7 mm across.
Neotropics; in Dominica in dry woodlands near west coast,
125-250 m: ridge above Clarke Hall (Ernsr 1267), Colihaut
(Ernsf 21 15).
FABACEAE~LEGUMINOSAE
This family breaks into three subfamilies (sometimes rreated
as families), Mimosoids, Caesalpinoids, and Faboids. In
general, the Mimosoids have bipinnate leaves (not Znga),
radiately symmetric flowers with showy stamens and inconspicuous
petals. The Caesalpinoids also tend to have bipinnate
leaves (not Bauhinia, Swartria, etc.) and more bilaterally
symmetric flowers with showy petals. Faboids tend to have
pinnate leaves and very bilaterally symmetric flowers with
showy petals. The uppermost Faboid petal is called a standard,
the two lowermost petals are generally more or less united on
the lower margin to form a keel, and the lateral petals are called
wings.
Amherstia nobilis Wallich (Caesalpinoid) of Burma grows in
the Roseau Botanic Garden (Whitefoord 6124), flowering in
April. It has 5-8 pairs of oblong-lanceolate leaflets 1.5-3 dm
long, glaucous beneath; pedicels with 2 red bracteoles 8-9 cm
long; a long, narrow calyx tube and petals 5-7 cm long, red
with a terminal yellow spot.
Arachis hypogaea Linnaeus (Faboid), the peanut, pistache,
or mali (Carib) is cultivated (Hodge 3328) and easy to
recognize by its even-pinnate (2 pairs) leaves and big (to 3 cm
long) stipules adnate to the petiole for 1 cm. Used by Caribs for
eating, oil, and in rituals (Hodge and Taylor, 1957561).
Adjanohoun et al. (1985149, pl. 115) reported medicinal uses.
Baikiaea insignis subsp. minor (Oliver) J. Leonard (Caesalpinoid)
of Africa was in the Roseau Botanic Garden
(Fairchild s.n., 28 Jan 1932; Hodge 2512). It has a brownvelvety
hit and large white flowers (sepals to 8 cm, petals to
12 cm x 7 cm).
Brownea lafifolia Jacquin (Caesalpinoid), a native of
Trinidad and Venezuela, was in the Roseau Botanic Gardens
(Hodge 3885,3927: the latter as Brownea rosa Otto). It is a tree
with coral flowers in showy, dense, pendulous clusters and
evenly pinnate leaves.
Butea monospermu (Lamarck) Taubert (Faboid), including
Butea frondosa Koenig ex Roxburgh, was collected in the
Botanic Garden in flower in May (Hodge 3908) and in fruit in
July (Hodge 940). This Asiatic tree has a brilliant show of
orange to scarlet flowers before leafing out. The leaves are
trifoliolate.
Calopogonium mucunoides Desvaux (Faboid), including C.
orthocarpum Urban, was collected at the Botanic Garden in
1932 (Fairchild 2785), the La Plaine Agricultural Station in
1986 (Whitefoord 5399), and Petit Coulibri in 1988 (Whitefoord
6014). It is a trailing herb with blue flowers and hairy
stems and petioles, reportedly used as a cover crop. Whitefoord
(1989:145) regarded it as naturalized.
Cassia (Caesalpinoid), defined in its narrow sense (excluding
Chumuecrista and Senna) as having (1) 3 longest stamens
with sigmoid filaments and (2) indehiscent fruits, is apparently
only cultivated on Dominica. One yellow- and two red- to
pink-flowered cassias have been collected or reported:
Cassiafistda Linnaeus, the golden shower tree, flowered in
the Botanic Gardens in May 1940 (Hodge 3912) and in Apr
1987 beyond Mero (Whitefoord 5690). It has leaflets about 10
cm long, a gland at the base of the petiole, and long, terete fruits