Muntingia calabura
Muntingiaceae
calabura, Jamaica cherry, strawberry tree
petiole 2–5 mm;
blade 60–150 × 20–50 mm.
alternate (distichous), petiolate, stipitate;
stipules subulate or filiform [absent or peltate discs];
blade palmately veined, seldom lobed, base often asymmetric, margins serrate, surfaces hairy, hairs usually mixed: unicellular and multicellular, simple with some setiform and some glandular, branched, and stellate, often ± tangled, forming tomentum.
flowers solitary or in clusters of 2–3+, usually supra-axillary;
involucel absent [bracteoles ca. 15, filiform].
5–20(–35) mm.
8–12+ mm;
petals 12–20 mm.
sepals caducous [persistent], (4–)5(–7), valvate, basally distinct or weakly connate;
petals caducous, (4–)5(–7), distinct;
nectaries absent;
stamens 10–75+, filaments distinct or bases connate;
ovary superior [inferior], 5–7-carpellate;
style 1 [0];
stigmas 5–7, ± decurrent.
baccate, ± spheric.
10–15 mm diam.
0.4–0.5 × 0.2–0.3 mm.
[25–]100–200+.
= 28 (Costa Rica), 30 (India).
Muntingia calabura
Muntingiaceae
Muntingia calabura has been reported as a spontaneous weed in commercial greenhouses in California. It was evidently brought into California with coco fiber used in hydroponics installations (F. Hrusa et al. 2002). Fruits of M. calabura are reputed to be prized by bats, birds, children, and fish.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Genera 3, species 3 (1 in the flora).
Plants included in Muntingiaceae (in the sense of C. Bayer et al. 1998) have been treated in Eleocarpaceae, Flacourtiaceae, or Tiliaceae. Dicraspidia Standley (Central America and Colombia) and Neotessmannia Burret (Peru) are relatively poorly known.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
