(Tul.) Müll. Arg., Linnaea 34:67.1865
Bully tree, Palo chancho, Pilon, Zapatero, Platano, Pantano
Dioecious tree, to 40 m tall; trunk usually lessthan 1 m dbh, buttressed, the buttresses sometimes continuous withexposed lateral roots extending over ground surface as much as 30 mfrom tree; bark reddish-brown and often weathered (appearing chewedup) at base; all younger parts densely lepidote. Leaves alternate,simple; stipules lanceolate, to 1.5 cm long, deciduous; petioles3-10 cm long; blades broadly elliptic, abruptly acuminate, obtuseto rounded at base, 7-23 (30) cm long, 4-12 (19) cm wide; juvenileblades 30 cm long and 16 cm wide, ovate-cordate, inflated androunded at base, usually inhabited by ants, the stipules enlarged.Panicles upper-axillary, the branches densely lepidote, thestaminate panicles to 17 cm long, the pistillate ones to 10 cm longand 15 cm broad; main axis with bracts 5-15 mm long, the lateralaxis with minute bracts; flowers apetalous, greenish-white;staminate flowers on minute pedicels; calyx cupuliform,shallowly 3- or 4-lobed, less than 1 mm high; disk nearly equalingcalyx; stamens 4; filaments to 1 mm long, free; anthers with anenlarged connective with 2 anther sacs pendent and divergent atanthesis; pistillate flowers on stout pedicels 1-2 mm long; calyxcupuliform, shallowly 3- or 4-lobed, to 0.8 mm high; disk smallerthan calyx; ovary ovoid, to 1 mm high; styles 3, obsolete; stigmasminute, bifid. Drupes green turning red then purple-black atmaturity, subglobose, ca 3 mm diam, sweet; seed 1, ellipsoid, ca 2mm long, brown. Croat 8403,14964.
Common in the forest, especially the old forest. Flowersmostly from March to June, also sporadically in the late rainyseason. The fruits mature mainly from March to July, alsosporadically in the late rainy season.
The fruits are eaten by white-faced monkeys.
Panama to the Guianas. In Panama, known fromtropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Bocas del Toro,Panama, and Darien, from premontane wet forest in Chiriqui, andfrom tropical wet forest in Colón.
See Figs. 322 and 323.
