Compilation
Muntingia calabura

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Name

Identification
Muntingia calabura L. [family TILIACEAE ] (stored under name);
Related name
  • Muntingia not on sheet
  • `
  • Muntingia calabura
  • Ossaea palenquensis

Flora

Entry for MUNTINGIA calabura L. [family TILIACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical East Africa, page 114, (2001) Author: B. VERDCOURT
Names
MUNTINGIA calabura L. [family TILIACEAE], Sp. Pl.: 509 (1753); Hook. f. in Bot. Mag. 98: t. 5982 (1872); Vollesen in Opera Bot. 59: 33 (1980); Morton, Fruits of Warm Climates: 278, fig. 78 (1987) (very full account); Du Puy in Fl. Austral. 50(2): 157 (1993). Type: Jamaica, Hort. Cliff.: 202 Muntingia 1 (BM!, holo.)
Information
Shrub or mostly small tree 2–9(–12) m tall (rarely more); bark tough; indumentum soft, somewhat viscid, densely velvety, of stellate and glandular hairs. Leaves oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 5–14 cm long, 2–4.5(–5) cm wide, acuminate at the apex, paler grey beneath; petiole 3–6 mm long with dense tuft of hairs near base; stipules linear, 1.5–5 mm long. Peduncles 1.2 cm long, becoming 2.5 cm in fruit. Sepals lanceolate, 8–12 mm long, the filiform tips ± 3 mm long, shorter or longerthan the corolla. Petals white, broadly obovate, 7–12 mm long, 5–10.5 mm wide. Ovary flask-shaped, shortly stipitate. Berries yellow turning red, ± globose, 8–15 mm in diameter. Seeds yellow, scarcely 0.5 mm long. Fig. 21.
Range
DISTR. K 7; T 6 tropical America, Cuba, Hispaniola, St. Vincent, Trinidad, Jamaica, widely introduced elsewhere in New World and into Old World
Altitude range
0–300 m
Distribution
KENYA Kilifi District Kilifi, Feb. 1973, Tweedie 2568! & Malindi (cult. in garden), 23 Mar. 1975, M. Glover in E.A. 15751! & Robertson plot (weed of unknown origin), 12 Oct. 2000, Robertson 7362!TANZANIA ?Kilosa District Ruaha Camp, 7°46'S, 37°05'E, 4 Nov. 1977, Vollesen in M.R.C. 4774!
Notes
TheT6 specimen was found far from any settlement. The species is often known as bird cherry or Jamaican cherry and planted for its fruit and as a shade tree. In the wild, trees to 21 m are reported.

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