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canchak-ché

Chiococca alba

Diagnostic description 4

Chiococca alba (L.) Hitchc., Rep. Missouri Bot. Gard. 4: 94. 1893.

Fig. 146. A-H

Basionym: Lonicera alba L

Synonyms: Chiococca racemosa L.

Chiococca parvifolia Griseb.

Chiococca alba (L.) Hitchc. var. parvifolia (Griseb.) Urb.

Chiococca alba (L.) Hitchc. ssp. parvifolia (Griseb.) Steyerm.

Woody vine or shrub, twining, attainig 3-10 m in length. Stems sulcate, with numerous opposite lateral branches; cross section of the mature stem with several cortical vascular bundles. Leaves opposite, coriaceous, elliptical, lanceolate, ovate, or oblong, 3-8 × 1-3.5 cm, the apex obtuse, acute, or acuminate, the base obtuse or acute, the margins entire, revolute; upper surface dark green, dull; lower surface light green, dull, with the midvein prominent; petioles 4-7 mm long, glabrous or puberulent; stipules ca. 2 mm long, acicular. Flowers bisexual or pistillate, in axillary racemes, 2-5 cm long; pedicels 3.5-5 mm long. Hypanthium green, glabrous, laterally flattened, ca. 2 mm long, crowned by a crateriform calyx, 1-1.2 mm long, the sepals triangular, ca. 0.5 mm long; corolla infundibuliform, pentagonal, intense yellow, usually with reddish lines on the angles (purple in the floral buds), the tube 4.5-6 mm long, the lobes reflexed, 1.5-3 mm long; stamens slightly exserted, the filaments unequal, pilose, connate at the base into a short tube; style bilobate, exserted in the pistillate flowers. Fruit a circular drupe, laterally flattened, 5-7 mm long, fleshy, white when ripe.

Phenology: Flowering throughout the year and fruiting from June to March.

Status: Native, very common.

Commentary: There is too much variation in the characters that have been utilized to distinguish Chiococca alba from C. parvifolia, so that it is not possible to distinguish two species with certainty. For this reason, I consider C. alba in a broader sense, including C. parvifolia. On the other hand, in Puerto Rico there is another species of Chiococca that I consider to be in accordance with the original description of C. micrantha Johnst. This species is not included in this work, since it is of shrubby habit.

Selected Specimens Examined: Acevedo-Rdgz., P. 162; 708; 1914; 2199; 2432; 2592; 3129; 3821; 5077; 5173; 7020; 7033; 7075; 7194; 7209; 9491; 10500; 11338; Axelrod, F. 4754; Britton, N.L. 1063; Fosberg, F.R. 44165; 51352; Holdridge, L. 232; Liogier, A.H. 9895; Sargent, F.H. 702; Shafer, J.A. 2945; 3792; Sintenis, P. 1; 278; 774; 1948; 2393; 2483; 3421; 6199; 6550; Stevenson, J.A. 269; 1798; Underwood, L.M. 157; 907; Webster, G.L. 8869.

Distribution 5

Distribution: In forests and on roadsides, in dry and moist areas at lower and middle elevations. Also on Mona, Vieques, St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, and Virgin Gorda; throughout the Antilles, the United States (Florida), and tropical continental America.

Public Forests: Cambalache, Carite, Ceiba, Guajataca, Guánica, Maricao, Mona, Río Abajo, Susúa, and Tortuguero

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) Jason Sharp, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5460/7150514983_ee0618eb1e_o.jpg
  2. (c) Homer Edward Price, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3024/2944941853_ffdd535bac_o.gif
  3. (c) Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/services/media.php?env=botany&irn=10360844
  4. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435500
  5. (c) Pedro Acevedo-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/28435937

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