Common Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

MADDER FAMILY (RUBIACEAE)
248. Juan tomb Rondeletia portoricenais Krug & Urban
A smnll to medium-sized tree or shrub of moun- bnck, minutely hniry ; 5 stamens are inserted withtain
forests, confined to Puerto Hico, charncter- in corolln tube; and the pistil is composed of inized
by: (1) opposite elli tic lenves 3-7 inches ferior 2-celled ovary wit,l~ hairy style and 2-lobed
low nnd I$$-? ~nches bronksllort-pointed nt both
en&, with midrib pink or red on under side tuld StiEi cnpsules are minutely hniry, splittin open
so~uetimes also on up )er side; (2) 2 broad n~lcl into 4 nrts, contain in^ many tiny wingefseeds
pointed preen wnles {stiPules) indl long so in$ long. Flower~ng in summer, and fruit
at, the bnse of each air of leaves; (3) tubulnr matur~ng in all.
white flowers 1h inch I' ong and with 5 lobes 5.g inch Sapwood is light brown and hard. This tree is
ncross, soveral to mnl1y in Intern1 clusters; nnd ordinarily small nnd not utilized.
(4) grny or \)roan seed capsules inch long, Widely distributed usunlly in the understory of
nenrly n)und but broader than long.
mountain forests of Puerto Rico.
Generally n snlnll tree 15-25 feet hi h and to O PUBLIO Foms~~.-I~~q~illo, Maricao, Tor0
inches in trunk diameter, sometin~es f nrger, or n Negro.
shrub, evergreen. The gray bnrk is smoothish Rt\~a~.-Puerto Rico only.
llnd slightly fiwu~rd. Inner bnrk is inkish out- Two related s ecies are shrubs or small trees.
sido nncl light brown within, slightly \ itter. The Cordohncillo [~ondeletia incnnia (Spreng.)
twigs are grny nntl with rings nt nodes, greenish ICrug & Urban) is n-idely distributed in Puerto
and ~llinl~tely htliry when young, tile nodes pnrtly Rico and also in Muertos but not known elsen~here.
cl-o\vtled nlld partly clistnnt.
It has o posite, linear to oblong or elliptic leaves
Petioles are %-I inch long, pen or tinged with 1/24 inc !' les Ion and l/ 2 inches wide and laternl /
pink, ~ninutely hniry. Leaf blades nre slightly clusters of 5 or fewer tuxulnr flowers about 1,4 inch
thicke~led and slightly fleshy, with edges turnecl long with 4-lobed corolla yellow or white, changing
uncler, peen nnd hnirless on upper surface, the to urple.
lower snrfnc-e paler nnd with prolnlnent nlinutely $delctiaai20~a Sn: is found in constal thickets
hniry midrib.
of eastern nn southeastern Puerto Rico St. Croix,
Flower c111st~ls (pnnicles) are bra~~ol~ecl, 1-21h St. Thomas, St. John, Tortoln, Virgin hordn, nnd
inches long, \vitli severnl to many fl-ngnlnt flowers. Montserrnt. It has the twigs and under surfaces
Tile light green, fi~lely hniry tu1)nlnr base (hy- of laves densely soft hniry ; opposite elliptic lenves
~)nntl~inm) more tlrnn lJlo inch long bears 5 calyx 1Yz4 inches long; and laternl clusters of usually
twth netlrlg as long; the tubular wl~ite corolln 3/ 3 tubular flowers about y8 inch long with 4-lobed
inch long hns 5 widely spreading lobes turn2 corolla.