Description: A small tree with a straight, cylindrical trunk. Branches have small swellings at the base of each leaf. Leaves are simple, alternate, regularly-spaced along branchlets, in a flat plane. They can be untoothed or slightly toothed. The stipules fall off readily, but they leave a clear scar - a ring that encircles about three-quarters of the branchlet, leaving a gap on the side opposite the leaf.

Reproduction: Flowers are small, white or greenish, in clusters along the branchlets, produced from January to May. There is a pair of small bracts at the base of each flower. Fruits are a capsule that turns from green to reddish as they mature; each has a single seed inside which is covered with a white aril. Fruits mature in May and June.

Distribution: A remarkably widespread treelet of the forest understory, found commonly in all lowland forests along the Canal. It is the only forest species which is very common in forests near the Caribbean, near the Pacific, and in the center of the isthmus. It is numerous in the forests around Gamboa, in Soberania, on Barro Colorado, and at Sherman.

Similar Species: This is a hard species to recognize at first, but it is common enough to encounter frequently and learn well, and the incomplete ring around branchlets is distinctive. When the leaves have teeth, it looks immediately like a Flacourtiaceae with its regularly-spaced leaves in a flat plane, and it should bring to mind LK casesy Casearia sylvatica LK2 or other Casearia, or LK lozapi Lozania pittieri, LK2 which is much less common. But if teeth are not present, Lacistema could be confused with Euphorbiaceae like LK drypst Drypetes standleyi LK2 or LK margno Margaritaria nobilis, LK2 or Lauraceae like LK ocotce Ocotea cernua. LK2 If you don't think of checking for the incomplete ring, Lacistema will be hard to pin down.

Descripción: Árbol de 5 a 10 m de alto. Tronco ramificado a baja altura. Ramitas terminales con nudos pequeños en la base de los pecíolos. Hojas simples y alternas, de 7-15 x 4-7 cm, oblongas, elípticas o lanceoladas, con ápice acuminado, bordes enteros o ligeramente dentados y base redondeada. Pecíolo de 0.5-0.7 cm de largo y ligeramente acanalado en la parte superior. Estípulas deciduas, dejando cicatrices muy distintivas en las ramitas. Flores blancas en espigas axilares. Cada flor es sostenida en la base por un par de brácteas pequeñas. Frutos en cápsulas, de 0.5-0.8 cm de largo, verdes, tornándose rojos y dehiscentes al madurar. Semillas cubiertas de un arilo blanco.

Datos Ecológicos: La especie crece a bajas y medianas elevaciones, en lugares secos, húmedos o muy húmedos de todo el país. Común y fácil de observar en bosques de todo el país. Florece y fructifica de enero a junio. Las flores son visitadas por insectos. Las semillas son dispersadas por la abertura de los frutos y los animales, principalmente aves que se alimentan del arilo que cubre las semillas.

Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK drypst Drypetes standleyi LK2 , pero en D. standleyi los bordes de las hojas son ondulados y el fruto es una drupa, además las ramitas no presentan nudos en la base de los pecíolos como ocurre en L. aggregatum. También se puede confundir con LK ocotce Ocotea cernua LK2 , pero O. cernua tiene hojas aromáticas con bordes ondulados y los frutos son drupas con cáliz persistente y en forma de copa.

Usos: La madera es empleada en la fabricación de mangos de herramientas, tajonas, postes de cercas y leña.

Tree, usually 6-20 m tall, glabrate or with sparse puberulence on young stems and underside of leaf. Petioles 5-10 (20) mm long; blades lanceolate, oblong-elliptic or oblanceolate-acuminate, acute to rounded at base, 10-16 cm long, 4.5-7 cm wide, entire or remotely crenate, the veins drying wrinkled, usually barbate in the axils of lateral veins on the lower surface, often pubescent all along midrib at least when young; stipules to 1 cm long, caducous. Flowers greenish, sessile, in narrow, cylindrical, bracteated spikes, the spikes 1-3 cm long, 4-12 per axil; bracts cupulate, broader than long, one subtending each flower; perianth segments 4, ca 0.5 mm long, unequal, erose; ovary and stamen centrally situated on a broad fleshy disk, the disk subtended by free bracteoles (usually 3) exceeding width of disk; stamen solitary, ca 2 mm long, exceeding pistil, the connective bifurcate; styles 3, short. Capsules ovoid, ca 1 cm long, red, short-stalked, splitting +/- irregularly into 2 or 3 valves; seed 1, ca 7 mm long, surrounded by a fleshy, bitter, white aril. Croat 5691, 8402. Common in the forest, especially in the young forest. Flowers in the dry and early rainy seasons, from January to May (rarely to July), usually in the latter half of the dry season. The fruits mature from April to June (sometimes August). The inner wall of one of the valves of the capsule becomes free and folds along the median. After being forced out, the seed is suspended on a slender white fiber from near the apex of the inner wall. Though the seeds are no doubt principally dispersed by birds, Oppenheimer (1968) reported that white-faced monkeys eat the white aril associated with the seed.

Bocas Species Database

Distribution: Islas Popa, Colon y Bastimentos   Characteristics: Shrub, Tree