Shamel and Popenoe: The Pitanga 
and glossy, the new growth of a rich wine- 
color. The flowers, which are about half an 
inch broad, have four white petals, with a 
tuft of stamens in the center, and are delight- 
fully fragrant. They are produced singly on 
slender stems about an inch long, and are 
followed by bright crimson fruits, of the shape 
of a small tomato, deeply ribbed, about an 
inch in diameter, with a thin skin and melting, 
juicy flesh of aromatic, spicy flavor, com- 
parable to none of the temperate fruits but 
somewhat resembling other members of the 
Myrtaceae. The single large seed, about the 
size of a cherry stone, lies in the center of the 
fruit and is easily removed. 
Technically, the species may be described as 
follows: 
An arborescent shrub or small tree, com- 
monly branching close to the ground, broad, 
compact, sometimes developing a trunk 1 
to 2 m. in height, with an erect, rather broad 
crown. In Brazil it often attains a height of 
6 or 8 m.; in Florida it does not usually exceed 
4 or 5 m. Branchlets thin and somewhat 
wiry, glabrous. Barklhght brown, very smooth. 
Leaves subsessile, opposite, entire, reddish 
when young, emitting a pungent odor when 
crushed, the blades ovate, shortly acuminate at 
the apex, rounded to subcordate at the base, 
3-5 cm. long, 2-3 cm. broad, glabrous, finely 
pellucid-punctate, deep green above, paler 
beneath, midrib slightly impressed above, 
midrib and the rather few transverse veins 
slightly raised below, the transverse veins 
uniting toward the margin; petiole not over 3 
mm. long, slender, grooved above. 
Flowers white, fragrant, solitary upon 
slender glabrous peduncles 1144-2'% cm. long 
in the axils of the leaves. Calyx tube cylin- 
drical, the lobes pale green, oblong, concave, 
rounded at the tips, 4 mm. in length, ciliate, 
reflexed. Petals 4, oblong-obovate, concave, 
8 mm. long, 4 mm. broad, ciliate. Stamens 
numerous, erect in a large cluster, the fila- 
ments 4-6 mm. long, white, filiform, the anthers 
oval, pale yellow. Style slightly longer than 
the stamens, filiform, the stigma simple. Ovary 
quadrilocular. 
Fruit a berry, one or sometimes two-seeded, 
depressed-globose, 2-3 cm. in diameter, 
prominently eight-ribbed longitudinally, deep 
crimson, shining, crowned by the persistent 
green calyx lobes, the disk small, sunken. 
Epicarp thin, membranous; mesocarp soft, 
juicy, crimson, of pungent, subacid flavor. 
Seeds spherical when 1, hemispherical when 2, 
commonly under 1 cm. in diameter; seed coat 
membranous. 
While generally known as Eugenia uniflora 
L., it has one or two synonyms which are occa- 
sionally seen. Chief among these is E. 
Micheli Lam., a name which was used in this 
country until a few years ago and is still 
commonly applied by some foreign writers. 
Nurserymen in Florida and California have 
181 
sent out numbers of plants under this name. 
Stenocalyx Michelit Berg was used by Barbosa 
Rodrigues, one of the best known Brazilian 
botanists, and following him other Brazilian 
writers have used it. Myrtus brasiliana L. 
is an obsolete name occasionally seen in old 
works, while Plinia rubra L."and Plinia 
pedunculata L. are also listed in the synonymy 
of the species. Piso and Marcgrav called it 
Ibipitanga. 
DISTRIBUTION 
The pitanga is indigenous in Brazil, 
extending over a wide area. Tavares! 
states that it is found in the states of 
Rio de Janeiro, Parana, Santa Catha- 
rina, and Rio Grande do Sul, where it 
grows along the banks of water courses 
and rivers, and in the edges of the 
forest. It is common in cultivation 
throughout many other sections of the 
country. It is interesting to note that 
Thomas Green,? im 1823; listed: the 
pitanga as a ‘“‘native of Goa in the East 
Indies.”” Goa is a small Portuguese 
colony on the western coast of the 
Indian peninsula, and during the early 
days of Portuguese colonization there 
was an interchange of economic plants 
between this colony and the Portu- 
guese possessions in America, resulting 
in the cashew (Anacardium occidentale 
L.), the guava (Psidium guajava L.), 
and other American plants becoming 
thoroughly established in India, while 
the mango, the carambola (Averrhoa 
carambola L.), the jak (Artocarpus 
integrifolia L.), and other oriental fruits 
were transferred to Brazil. Quite prob- 
bably the pitanga was carried to Goa 
along with other Brazilian plants, and 
Green took it to be indigenous. Many 
of the citrous fruits which were estab- 
lished in Brazil by the Portuguese may 
also have come from Goa by way of 
Portugal. 
The name pitanga, by which this 
fruit seems universally to be known in 
Brazil, is undoubtedly of Tupi origin. 
The Tupi Indians inhabited a large 
part of Brazil at the time of the dis- 
covery, and the names which they gave 
to many indigenous plants have per- 
sisted to the present day, though their 
meanings have in many cases become 
obscure. Martius*® states that pitanga 
1 Tavares, Prof. J. S., ‘‘As Fruteiras do Brazil,’ in Broteria, Vol. X, fasc. V, Braga, 1912. 
2 “Universal Herbal,’ Vol. I, London. 
3 Beitrage zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerikas zumal Brasiliens, Vol. II, Leipsig, 
1867. 
