FLACOURTIA FAMILY (FLACOURTIACEAE) 



Key to the 5 species illustrated (Nos. 169-173) 



A. Flowers in short lateral clusters ; fruit a rounded or an elliptic seed capsule. 



B. Leaves many, evenly spaced on long slender twigs, appearing pinnate ; seed capsules ?i6 inch or less in 

 diameter. 



C. Leaves with lower surface gray green, hairy ; edges toothed — 169. Casearia arborea. 

 CC. Leaves green on both surfaces ; edges appearing as if without teeth — 172. Casearea sylvestris. 

 BB. Leaves few ; seed capsules about % inch in diameter. 



T>. Leaves less than 3 inches long, hairless ; seed capsules round — 170. Casearea decandra. 

 DD. Leaves 2V2-5V2 inches long, hairy on veins; seed capsules elliptic — 171. Casearia gtiianensis. 

 AA. Flowers in long-stalked lateral clusters ; fruit of seed capsules resembling dried flowers with 6 or 7 large brown 

 sepals attached — 173. Homalium racemosum. 



169. Rabo raton 



This very common small tree is distinguished 

 by: (1) many crowded lance-shaped or narrowly 

 oblong leaves flattened in 2 rows on long, slender, 

 nearly horizontal or slightly drooping twigs; 

 (2) the leaves long-pointed, finely saw-toothed, 

 and the lower surface gray green and covered with 

 minute hairs; and (3) small greenish-white bell- 

 shaped flowers %Q inch long and broad and seed 

 capsules %6 "^ch in diameter in clusters at leaf 

 bases. 



An evergreen tree to 30 feet high and 6 (rarely 

 10) inches in trunk diameter, or shrubby. The 

 thin gray-brown bark is smoothish. Inner bark is 

 light brown and slightly bitter. The twigs are 

 finely hairy and brown, gi*e€n when young. 



The alternate leaves have short hairy petioles 

 Vs inch long and thin blades li/2^ inches long and 

 1/4-1 inch broad, short-pointed at base, shiny green 

 and almost hairless on upper surface and densely 

 gray-green hairy beneath. Many minute gland 

 dots and lines can be seen when a leaf is examined 

 with a hand lens against the light. 



Several to many small flowers are borne in lat- 

 eral clusters (umbels) about i/4 inch across at bases 

 of leaves, each on a short,, hairy, jointed stalk less 

 than Vs inch long. The whitish or greenish-white, 

 bell-sliaped flowers consist of the calyx with 5 

 finely hairy, spreading lobes about i/g inch long; 

 10 stamens attached to calyx and alternating with 

 smaller hairy sterile stamens (staminodes) ; and 

 pistil with 1-celled ovary with style and rounded 

 stigma. Seed capsules become reddish and black- 

 ish. Flowering and fruiting thi'ough the year. 



Casearia arborea (L. C. Rich.) Urban 



Sapwood is hard and brittle, very light brown. 

 The tree is used chiefly for posts and fuel in Puerto 

 Rico. 



Abundant and widely distributed along road- 

 sides and in openings, thickets, and forests, in the 

 lower mountain, moist limestone, and moist coastal 

 regions of Puerto Rico. (Also reported long ago 

 from St. Thomas, perhaps in error.) 



Public forests. — Carite, Guajataca, Guilarte, 

 Luquillo, Maricao, Rio Abajo, Susua, Toro Negro. 



JNIUNICirALITIES WHERE ESPECIALLY COMMON. 4, 



19, 20. 27, 29, 35, 40. 49, 51, 52, 53, &4. 



Range. — Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. 

 Recorded from Honduras, British Honduras, and 

 Costa Rica in Central America. Also in South 

 America from Guianas to Brazil, Bolivia, and 

 Peru. 



Other common names. — rabo junco (Puerto 

 Rico) ; palo de yagua, palo salvaje, cascarita (Do- 

 minican Republic) ; guaguasi, jique, guasimilla 

 (Cuba) ; 11a j as (Peru). 



Two additional species of this genus are native 

 in Puerto Rico besides the 4 illustrated here. 

 Casearia aculeafa Jacq., a shrub or small tree of 

 southern and western Puerto Rico, has elliptic 

 leaves 1-2% inches long, usually hairy beneath and 

 distinguished by spines %-li4 inches long, often 

 branched, on the twigs. 



Talantron {Casearia bicolor Urban), appar- 

 ently rare, is a tree species known only from the 

 Cordillera near Utuado. It has narrow oblong 

 leaves 3^i/^ inches long and 1-1% inches wide, 

 short-pointed at apex and rounded at base. 



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