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Family: Fabaceae
sangre de gallo, more...suela
[Pterocarpus floribundus Pittier] |
Description: A tall forest tree with a straight cylindrical trunk. Large individuals have high and thin buttresses. The bark is smooth, yellow with white splotches. A A transparent red liquid exudes slowly from slashed bark, hence the local name. Leaves are alternate, compound with 5-9 leaflets. The leaflets are alternate, with a terminal one. Leaflets are shiny green and have somewhat undulate edges. The base of the petiole is swollen, green, and cylindrical. Reproduction: Most individuals are deciduous, losing most or all of their leaves through the dry season. Flowers are yellow, with a typically keeled legume form, produced on stalks at the ends of branches in May and June. The fruit is a large winged seed, greenish but turning light brown, falling from August to November. Distribution: Common in the old forest at Barro Colorado, but elsewhere sparse or rare, but found from Gamboa northward and at Santa Rita. Similar Species: The other Pterocarpus, LK pterbe P. belizensis, LK2 is very similar, but the leaflets are larger and more numerous. Other legumes that are big trees have opposite leaflets. The completely unrelated LK picrla Picramnia latifolia LK2 is remarkably similar to Pterocarpus rohri, including a very legume-like cyclindrical petiole base of the petiole. Leaflets of Picramnia lack undulate margins, and Picramnia is a small tree no more than a few meters tall (the latter of course no help separating it from juvenile Pterocarpus). Descripción: Árbol de 15 a 35 m de alto. Copa pequeña e irregular. Tronco con raíces tablares bien desarrolladas en la base. Corteza exterior amarillenta, a veces con manchas blancas o verde grisáceas. La corteza interior del tronco produce una savia roja. Hojas imparipinnadas y alternas, con 5-7 folíolos, alternos en el raquis. Folíolos de 5-15 x 3-7 cm, ovados o elípticos, con ápice acuminado, bordes enteros y base redondeada. Estípulas deciduas. Pecíolo de 3-7 cm de largo y pulvinado en la base. Frutos en legumbres samaroides, de 5-6 cm de ancho, redondeados, membranosos y aplanados, verdes, tornándose marrón amarillentos al madurar. Datos Ecológicos: La especie crece a bajas elevaciones, en lugares húmedos o muy húmedos. En Panamá se encuentra en las provincias de Bocas del Toro, Coclé, Colón, Darién y la comarca de Guna Yala. Deja caer sus hojas parcialmente durante la estación seca, pero las repone a inicios de la estación lluviosa. Florece y fructifica de mayo a noviembre. Las flores son visitadas por abejas, mariposas y otros insectos. Especies Parecidas: A menudo se confunde con LK pterof Pterocarpus officinalis LK2 , pero P. officinalis crece asociado a bosques pantanosos en las desembocaduras de los ríos. Lonchocarpus y Platymiscium también tienen hojas muy parecidas, pero los folíolos son opuestos. Usos: La madera es empleada para la elaboración de muebles ordinarios, carpintería de interiores, escaleras y tableros. Tree, to 50 m tall; trunk 30-100 cm dbh, buttressed; outer bark whitish, thin, often loose; inner bark moderately thick, with numerous red streaks exuding minute sap droplets, the streaks forming concentric rings especially near wood, the sap copious, red; branchlets glabrous to densely pubescent. Leaves alternate; stipules caducous, linear to +/- falcate, 3-10 mm long; petioles 2.5-4.5 cm long, pulvinate at base; rachis glabrous to densely ferruginous-pubescent, 3-12 (20) cm long; petiolules 3-6 (9) mm long; leaflets (3) 5-9 (12), ovate to elliptic, bluntly acuminate, acute to rounded or rarely slightly cordate at base, 3.5-10 (13) cm long, 2-4 (5.5) cm wide, glabrous above, usually with short, appressed pubescence below, the midrib sometimes arched with the sides folded somewhat upward. Racemes usually axillary, to 12 cm long, shorter than leaves; calyces and pedicels densely pubescent, the trichomes short, golden-brown, appressed; pedicels 5-7 (10) mm long; flowers pinkish-orange, ca 1.5 cm long; calyx to 7 (11) mm long, oblique, narrowly campanulate, the teeth blunt, 1-2 mm long, the vexillar teeth larger; standard ca 1.5 cm long, emarginate, violet-purple at the center, clawed, the claw ca 4.5 mm long; keel and wings slightly shorter than standard, both marked with violet-purple, the keel petals weakly connate on their outer edge; stamens diadelphous, those of the tube weakly connate; pollen golden; ovary appressed-pilose, uniformly oblong; style longer than stamens. Fruits round to oval, flat and thin, mostly 5.5-7 cm long and 5-6 cm wide, usually unequal at the base, minutely pubescent, yellowish- to rusty-brown, indehiscent; seminiferous area central, ca 3 cm long, slightly raised, the margins very thin, reticulate, often minutely wrinkled; seed 1. Croat 14866, 16623, 16627. Frequent in the forest, possibly less abundant on the western side of the island. Flowers every other year (R. Foster, pers. comm), usually in May and June, less frequently earlier in the dry season. The fruits mature from August to November. |