PITTIER PLANTS FROM COLOMBIA AND CENTRAL AMERICA. 457 



by abortion. The seeds are ovoid-oblong, subtrigonous, 12 to 15 mm. long, about 8 

 mm. in diameter, covered by an arilluslike tegument, and always perfectly glabrous. 



SAPOTACEAE. 



AN OLD AND A NEW SPECIES OF LUCUMA. 



1818. Figure 83. 



. pi. 239. 1802; Molina, Sagg. 



Lucuma obovata H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 3 : 241 



Achras lucuma Ruiz & Pav. Fl. Peruv. Chil. 3 : ] 

 Stor. Nat. Chil. ed. 2. 282. 1802. 



A tree 8 to 10 meters high, laticiferous, evergreen and with a very dense, rounded 

 or eubglobose crown. Limbs spreading, with rugose, grayish bark. Branchlets 

 terete, minutely pubescent. 



Leaves in bunches at the ends of the branchlets. Petioles 12 to 22 mm. long, 

 broadly flattened and sulcate above, rounded beneath, subglabrous. Leaf blades 



11 to 12 cm. long, 4 to 5 cm. broad, elliptic-ovate, acute at the base, rounded or sub- 

 acute at the tip, membranous or subcoriaceous, entire 



with a revolute margin, glabrous, dark green above, paler 

 or ferruginous beneath; primary veins bifurcate, reticulate- 

 anastomosed . 



Flowers 1 to 3 in the axils of the leaves. Pedicels 10 to 



12 mm. long, subglabrous. Sepals 5, 9 to 10 mm. long, 7 to 

 9 mm. broad, free, ovate, obtuse, concave, coriaceous, 

 hairy-tomentose on the back, imbricate, the two exterior 

 ones opposite and covering the others. Corolla 5-lobed 

 (sometimes 6 or 7), about 13 mm. long; lobes about 6 

 mm. long, 4 mm. broad, ovate-orbicular, rounded at tip, 

 subauriculate at the base on the right margin, minutely 

 hairy or papillose on the outside. Staminodes 3.5 to 4 mm. 

 long, sublinear, nude at the apex, subtrigonous and pa- 

 pillose for the lower part. Stamens very short (about 4 

 mm. long), glabrous, the fdament rather short and stout, 

 subulate; anthers almost basifix, ovoid -acuminate, apicu- 

 late. Pistil of variable length, according to the stage of 



an thesis, glabrous with a crown of stiff hairs around the base; ovary ovoid, 5-ceIled; 

 style erect, obscurely sulcate and slightly capitellate. 



Fruit globose-depressed or sometimes ovate, as large as a good-sized apple, green 

 and smooth outside, bearing at the base the persistent calyx and at the apex a squa- 

 mose or rugose spot or ring; earcocarp thick, yellow, mealy. Seeds 1 to 5, but most 

 commonly 2, subglobose, flattened on the umbilical surface, of the size of a chestnut. 



Common names: Kitsua, lucmo, or lucumo (Chile, Peru); Spanish, Tnamdn (Costa 

 Rica). 



This tree appears to be a native of the maritime provinces of Peru and Chile, but 

 Ruiz and Pavon seem to have known it only in the cultivated condition, while 

 Bonpland simply states that it grows in the temperate region in the neighborhood 

 of the town of Loja. c In Costa Rica it exists only in a few specimens in gardens 

 around San Jose and is said to have been introduced there by returning political 

 exiles during the first half of the past century. 



It flowers and fructifies all the year round. According to Ruiz and Pavon the 

 fruits are not quite edible when they drop from the tree, and the natives of Peru 



a Velasco evidently refers to this species when he says: '' El arbol es bastante 

 Grande, y tambien el fruto redondo, con diametro de cinco dedo3 mas 6 menos. Es 

 e:\rnosr>, arenoso, pocn dulce y seco, de corteza pajiza, carne amarilla y pepita grande, 

 ;-donda muy lustrosa." Historia del Reino de Quito, p. 62, pi. 1. 1844. 



Fig. 83. — Lucuma oborata, 

 floral details, a, Stami- 

 nodes; b, stamens; c, an- 

 thers; d, pistil. Scale 3. 



