Description: A tall canopy tree with a straight, cylindrical trunk, only slightly swollen at the base. Bark on adult trees is gray, with clear vertical fissures. Leaves are simple, opposite, and have unusual venation. Secondary veins are extremely densely spaced, straight and parallel, and no smaller veins are visible. Saplings have no branches, with very large leaves emerging straight from the stem. Breaking a leaf reveals small droplets of yellow latex, but they appear slowly and do not drip out.

Reproduction: Flowers are white or yellowish, 2-3 cm across, in the canopy, produced from March to May and sometimes again in November. Fruits are single globular berries, fairly large, with a hard pulp that bats readily take.

Distribution: Widespread on the Caribbean half of the isthmus, but patchy. Very common in the old forest at Barro Colorado at Sherman, and in a couple sites in Soberania. Otherwise, found in small numbers from Gamboa to the Caribbean, and on the Santa Rita Ridge. Not seen around Panama City to Summit Gardens, and not seen along roads or in open areas.

Similar Species: As a tall tree, the fissured bark is a good character, but check for leaves too, as there are always some on the ground. The remarkable leaves are unmistakable, except that there are two other species around with the same dense venation. One is the close relative, LK calobr Calophyllum brasiliense, LK2 which fortunately, is rare. It has yellowish bark and smaller leaves. The other is LK micr1 Micropholis, LK2 with two species restricted to wetter areas. Micropholis has the same finely spaced and attractive leaf venation, but leaves are alternate, not opposite as in Calophyllum.

Uses: The wood is good quality, used widely, and sold commercially. The latex is also used for making resins and medicinally.

Descripción: Árbol de 20 a 40 m de alto. Copa redondeada y con follaje denso. Tronco recto y cilíndrico. Corteza exterior gris y con parches amarillentos espaciados a lo largo del fuste. Corteza interior roja. El desprendimiento de cualquier parte de la planta produce una savia amarilla, la cual fluye lentamente. Hojas simples y opuestas, de 10-25 x 4-9 cm, oblongas, con ápice redondeado o emarginado, bordes enteros y base obtusa o decurrente. Las hojas son coriáceas y con nervaduras secundarias finas y paralelas. Las plantas juveniles tienen el tronco desprovisto de ramas y presentan hojas decusadas, de mayor tamaño en comparación con los adultos. Pecíolo de 2-4 cm de largo, acanalado y aplanado en la parte superior. La especie es dioica. Flores blancas con los estambres amarillos. Frutos en drupas globosas, de 1.5-3 cm de diámetro, verdes, tornándose amarillentos al madurar.

Datos Ecológicos: La especie crece a bajas y medianas elevaciones, en bosques húmedos o muy húmedos. En Panamá se encuentra en las provincias de Bocas del Toro, Colón, Darién, Herrera, Panamá, Veraguas y la comarca de Guna Yala. Común y fácil de observar en bosques de la vertiente del Caribe y de la isla de Coiba en Panamá. Florece y fructifica de marzo a mayo, y de octubre a noviembre. Las semillas son dispersadas por animales, principalmente murciélagos que se alimentan de la pulpa que rodea los frutos.

Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK caloin Calophyllum inophyllum LK2 , pero C. inophyllum es un árbol cultivado con frutos que cuelgan de un pedúnculo largo. También se puede confundir con LK calobr Calophyllum brasiliense LK2 , pero C. brasiliense es un árbol con hojas más pequeñas y estrechas.

Usos: La madera es empleada en la construcción de pisos, muebles, carpintería, contrachapado, trabajos de gabinetes, mangos de herramientas y durmientes de ferrocarril. La savia amarilla del tronco tiene aplicaciones medicinales y se utiliza para curar la sarna. De la savia también se obtienen resinas, aceites y taninos.

Maria, Calaba Polygamous tree, to 35 m high; trunk ca 1 m dbh, buttressed; outer bark with short fissures, thick, irregular on the inner edge; inner bark reddish with white mottling, forming sap droplets; sap yellow, viscid, with the odor of fresh pumpkin; wood white, soft, lightweight; plant glabrous except for dense, minute, ferruginous trichomes on young stems and inflorescences. Petioles 2-4 cm long, stout; blades oblong, rounded to emarginate at apex, mostly obtuse at base, 11-20 cm long, 4.5-9.5 cm wide (to 30 cm long and 8.5 cm wide on juveniles), coriaceous; lateral veins very fine and parallel, secondary lateral veins lacking. Racemes short, to 4.5 cm long; inflorescence branches, petals, and sepals densely ferruginous-tomentose; pedicels less than 5 mm long; buds globose; sepals 4, +/- orbicular to broadly elliptic, concave, ca 6-8 mm long, yellow, markedly unequal in width on a single flower, the outermost wider, about half as wide as long; petals lacking; stamens 10-12; filaments ca 2 mm long; anthers ca 1.8 mm long; ovary ovoid, ca 4.5 mm long; style ca 2 mm long; stigma capitate, much broader than the style. Fruits round, green, ca 3 cm diam; exocarp thin, green; mesocarp +/- corky, thick; endocarp thin, shell-like, containing a single large seed. Croat 8532, Foster 1480. Frequent in the forest, especially in the younger forest. Flowers throughout the rainy season, principally in late rainy season (October to November, rarely as late as January). The fruits mature principally in the late dry and early rainy seasons (March to July). J. Oppenheimer (pers. comm.) reports that white-faced monkeys eat the fruits from May to August. Panama, Colombia, Surinam, Brazil, and Peru. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Panama, and Darien and from tropical wet forest in Colon and Darien.