27. Ortegon 



BUCKWHEAT FAMILY (POLYGONACEAE) 



Coccoloba swartzii Meisn. 



Distinguisliing characters for this species usu- 

 ally of mountain forests, include: (1) shiny green 

 elliptic to broadly ovate to rounded leaf' blades 

 generally thick and leathery, 2i/^-6 inches long and 

 2-4 inches broad, on short stout green petioles; 



(2) twigs ringed at nodes with a green sheath 

 (ocrea) %-% inch high at base of young leaves; 



(3) the terminal erect green flowering axis gener- 

 ally stout and Vs-^e i'lcli in diameter, bearing 

 many stalkless greenish 5-parted flowers singly 

 and not crowded; and (4) slightly fleshy green to 

 blackish egg-shaped fruit (akene) 5/^g inch long 

 with calyx lobes at top. 



A small to medium-sized evergreen tree com- 

 monly to 40 feet high and S inches in trunk diam- 

 eter, but recorded to 50 feet in height and 3 feet 

 in trunk diameter, with narrow or rounded crown. 

 The bark is gray, smooth to slightly fissured, the 

 brown or pinkish inner bark slightly bitter and 

 gritty. The stout gray twigs are slightly crooked 

 and bent at the ringed nodes. 



leaves are alternate on petioles %-% inch long. 

 Blades are blunt-pointed or rounded at apex and 

 rounded or sliglitly heart-shaped at Ixise, the edges 

 not toothed, shiny green al)Ove and a little lighter 

 green beneatli. ITpon drying the minute network 

 of small veins becomes slightly raised and promi- 

 nent on botli surfaces. 



The flower cluster (spike) is 4-12 inches long. 

 Flowers are male and female on difl'erent trees 

 (dioecious). The male flower 3/jy inch across has 

 a cuplike scale at base and consists of basal tube 

 ( hypanthium) Vjg inch long with 5 widely spread- 

 ing calyx lobes more than Wq inch long, 8 spread- 

 ing stamens, and rudimentary pistil. In the fe- 

 male flower tlie stamens are small, and the larger 

 pistil has a 3-angled 1-celled ovary and 3 styles. 



The fruit is composed of tiie basal tube (hypan- 

 thium) 1,4 incji long bearing at apex the 5 calyx 

 lobes more than W^ inch long and enclosing a shiny 

 dark brown seed %6 inch long. Recorded in flower 

 and fruit from June to September. 



The sapwood is whitish and hard. The heavy 

 wood (specific gravity 0.7) is used in Puerto Rico 

 chiefly for posts. 



In the lower and upper mountain forest regions 

 of Puerto Rico, ascending to dwarf forests of the 

 summits. Also in moist lowlands of Puerto Rico, 

 Vieques, St. Croix, St. John, and Virgin Gorda. 



Public forests. — ^Carite, Guilarte, Luquillo, 

 Maricao, Toro Negro. 



Range. — Bahamas, Greater Antilles, St. Croix, 

 St. John, Virgin Gorda, and Lesser Antilles from 

 Saba to St. Lucia and Barbados. 



Other common names. — uvilla (Puerto Rico) ; 

 uvillon (Cuba); tie-tongue (Bahamas). 



The common form known only from mountains 

 of Puerto Rico and characterized by thick leaves 

 and stout flowering axis has been distinguished 

 also as a species {Coccoloba harm que naif! Britton; 

 C. swartzii f. urhanii (Lindau) Howard). 



Three related species may be mentioned here. 

 One called uvera (Coccoloba pyri folia Desf.), 

 known only from Puerto Rico, has narrowly ovate 

 leaves 2—1-1/2 inches long and 1-21/4 inches wide, 

 short-pointed or blunt at apex, veins inconspicuous 

 on Ijoth sides, and round fruits only %e inch in 

 diameter. 



Uverillo {Coccoloba mix:-rosta-chya Willd. ; syn- 

 onym C. obf lis! folia auth.. not Willd.) is a shrub 

 or small tree widely distributed in the drier areas 

 of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and also in 

 Hispaniola. It has small, mostly oblong or ovate 

 leaves 11/2-21/0 inches long and %-li/4 inches wide, 

 the apex short-pointed, rounded, or notched, the 

 base rounded, veins prominent and forming dense 

 network on lioth sides, and black fruit 

 not angled. 



Coccoloba l-rugii Lindau, another shrub or small 

 tree of drier areas of Puerto Rico, Anegada, and 

 elsewhere in the West Indies, has ovate leaves 1-2 

 inches long and %-li/4 inches wide, rounded at 

 apex and heart-shaped at base, veins inconspicuous 

 on ujjj^er surface, and 3-angled fruit ^^g inch long. 



14 inch long 



80 



