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Family: Araliaceae
Angelica-Tree, more... (es: aguacate de dos hojas, muñequito, nagua blanca, vaquero)
[Aralia arborea L., moreDendropanax stenodontus (Standl.) A. C. Sm., Gilibertia stenodonta Standl.] |
Description: A tall forest tree with a trunk which often leans slightly. Leaves are alternate, simple, broad, sometimes nearly rounded at the base, shiny and thick. They are arranged in a distinctive cluster at the end of branches -- leaves right at the tip of the branch have short leaf stalks, whereas those a few centimeters lower have much longer stalks. The effect is to bring the entire cluster of leaves up to nearly the same plane. Juvenile leaves are often lobed, and are also clustered in this distinctive way. Small branches show scars where leaves have fallen. Reproduction: Flowers are small, greenish or yellowish, produced from July to September. Fruits are small round berries, produced from October to December, green initially, maturing purple, dispersed by many animals. Distribution: A remarkably widespread species in the Canal area, occurring in the driest forests near Panama City, the wettest forests on the Santa Rita ridge, in cloud forests of the mountains, and most sites in between. On the Pacific side of the isthmus it is mostly in gallery forest, and it is not common at Barro Colorado Island, but it is patchily common and even abundant in parts of Soberania, Sherman, and at Cerro Campana. Around the STRI crane at Fort Sherman, it is abundant. Similar Species: The leaf stalks which vary in length are distinctive. Only one other species in the area shows this pattern: LK cappfr Capparis frondosa. LK2 Leaves of Dendropanax are smooth and rather thick, quite different in the way they fell to leaves of Capparis. In large trees, the variable-lengthed leaf stalks can be seen, but only by carefully studying the crown with binoculars. The mitten-shaped lobed leaves are only found in juveniles. Uses: The wood is used for plywood, furniture, and other tools. A preparation from the roots is used to treat fever. Descripción: Árbol de 15 a 30 m de alto. Copa redondeada con follaje verde y lustroso. Tronco ramificado a mediana altura y con raíces tablares pequeñas en la base. Corteza exterior lenticelada, blanca o ligeramente gris. En plantas juveniles el tronco se ramifica en tres ramas ascendentes. Hojas simples y alternas, de 5-15 x 2-8 cm, ovadas o elípticas, con ápice acuminado, bordes enteros o ligeramente dentados y base decurrente. En plantas juveniles las hojas son trilobuladas y presentan tres nervaduras que salen a partir de la base. Estípulas pequeñas y deciduas. Pecíolo de 1-8 cm de largo. Flores verdes o blancas. Frutos en bayas globosas, de 0.4-0.8 cm de largo, verdes, tornándose morados o negros al madurar. Datos Ecológicos: La especie crece a bajas y medianas elevaciones, en bosques secos, húmedos, muy húmedos o nubosos de todo el país. Común y fácil de observar en bosques nubosos del Parque Nacional Altos de Campana. En áreas muy secas de las provincias de Coclé, Herrera y Los Santos, la especie crece asociada a bosques ribereños a lo largo del curso de los ríos y los riachuelos. Florece y fructifica de julio a diciembre. Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK oreoca Oreopanax capitatus LK2 , pero O. capitatus usualmente es una planta hemiepífita. LK herndi Hernandia didymantha LK2 y LK hernst Hernandia stenura LK2 también tienen hojas muy parecidas, pero en Hernandia los pecíolos tienen un pulvínulo basal y los frutos son de mayor tamaño. LK ilexgu Ilex guianensis LK2 es muy parecido, pero en I. guianensis las hojas presentan los bordes enteros y los pecíolos son más pequeños. Usos: La madera es empleada en la fabricación de cajas, cajones, carpintería en general, formaletas, muebles, palillos de fósforos, ‘plywood’ y pulpa para papel. Con la raíz y las hojas de esta planta se prepara un remedio empleado contra la fiebre. Las flores son visitadas por abejas, de allí que los árboles de esta especie se pueden emplear como planta melífera en fincas dedicadas a la apicultura. Tree, 10-20 (25) m tall, 25-40 (70) cm dbh, glabrous; bark with prominent lenticels, not deeply fissured; wood soft; ultimate branches whorled from apex of stout stems; stems brittle. Leaves simple, alternate; petioles 1-8 cm long; blades variable, mostly elliptic, also ovate-elliptic and obovate-elliptic, obtuse to acuminate and downturned at apex, attenuate to rounded at base, 5.5-15 cm long, 2-8 cm wide, usually entire, rarely with remote apiculate teeth. Racemes terminal, 6-12 cm long, of 3-20 pedunculate umbels, frequently with many umbels along rachis below terminal whorl of umbels; primary peduncle and rachis 1.5-6 cm long, bracteate at nodes, the floriferous peduncles 1-5 cm long, often bracteate, the bracts free, ovate, ca 1 cm long; pedicels 3-9 mm long; flowers (3) 10-30 (50) per umbel, greenish-white, ca 6 mm diam, 5-7-parted; calyx +/- bowl-shaped, truncate and undulate to remotely 5-lobed; petals 5, valvate, (1.3) 2-2.5 mm long, acute and cucullate at apex, spreading at anthesis, later reflexed; stamens 5 (7), alternate with and longer than petals, to 4 mm long, erect at anthesis, later spreading; anthers ca 1 mm long; styles 5 (7), connate at base, the connate part flat or slightly conical, free and held tightly together at apex, later spreading, persistent in fruit, ca 0.5 mm long. Berries globose, ca 1 cm diam, smooth, drying deeply sulcate between seeds with - 4-sharp ridges, black-purple at maturity, with a ringlike scar around persistent styles; seeds 5 (7), +/- semicircular, flattened, with a sharp margin, ca 7 mm long, tan, notched at apex on inner margin, minutely muricate. Croat 11751, 17047. Mexico to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia; West Indies. In Panama, known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Bocas del Toro, Veraguas, Los Santos, and Darien Provinces, from premontane wet forest in the Canal Zone, Chiriqui, Coclé, Panama, and Darien, and from lower montane wet forest in Chiriqui. Reported from premontane moist, tropical wet, and premontane rain forests in Costa Rica (Holdridge et al., 1971). Shrub or small tree, 1-2.5 (4) m tall, glabrous; stems striate when dry. Leaves simple, alternate; petioles 1-8 cm long; blades variable, frequently oblong, also elliptic, narrowly elliptic, oval, oblong-ovate or oblong-obovate, usually abruptly long-acuminate at apex, attenuate to rounded at base, 6-25 cm long, 2-10 cm wide, usually with sparse, minute, apiculate teeth. Racemes terminal, 2-8 cm long, of 3-15 pedunculate umbels, usually with few umbels on rachis below terminal whorl of umbels; primary peduncle and rachis 4-7 cm long, bracteate at nodes, the floriferous peduncles 1-5 cm long, bracteate near middle, the bracts free, ovate, ca 0.5 mm long; pedicels 2-9 mm long; flowers 4-35 per umbel, greenish-white to greenish-purple, ca 4.7 mm diam at anthesis, usually drying black to purple; calyx +/- bowl-shaped, lobed, 1-1.8 mm long (mostly less than 1.5 mm), acute and cucullate at apex, spreading at anthesis, later reflexed, the lobes 5, deltoid to apiculate; petals narrowly ovate, 3-3.5 mm long; stamens 5, alternate with and as long as or slightly longer than petals, erect to spreading; anthers ca 0.7 mm long, the thecae directed upward at anthesis; styles 5-9, connate, ca 1 mm long, conical at base, free at apex and held tightly together at anthesis, later spreading, persistent in fruit. Berries globose, smooth, ca 6 mm long, drying slightly sulcate between seeds; seeds 5, shaped like orange segments, ca 4.3 mm long, tan, deeply grooved on one side along rounded outer margin. Croat 5409, 11427. Occasional, in somewhat disturbed areas at the edges of clearings or on shore; one individual known in the older forest. Flowers from April to August, mostly in July and August, rarely earlier or later. The fruits mature from May to September, mostly in July and August. Individuals may flower two or more times per season and can be found with both flowering and fruiting inflorescences. Mexico (Chiapas) to Panama. In Panama, known principally from tropical moist forest on the Atlantic slope of the Canal Zone, in adjacent parts of Colón, and in San Blas; known also from premontane wet forest in Colon (near Maria Chiquita). Bocas Species Database Characteristics: Tree that reaches from 15 to 30 m in height. Leaves are simple and alternate, trilobuled in young plants and oval in adults. Flowers are greenish yellow. Fruits are green turning black when ripe. |
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