Sw. subsp. bolivarense (Pitt.) C. C. Berg, Acta Bot.Neerl. 19:326. 1970.
B. bernadetteae Woods.; Helicostylis latifoliaPitt.
Berba
Monoecious tree, 3-35 m tall; bark thin, withprominent leaf scars and irregular horizontal raised lines; innerbark smooth, thick, tan; sap forming milky droplets. Petiolesstout, 4-14 mm long; blades elliptic-obovate to elliptic, acuminate tomucronate at apex, broadly cuneate to rounded at base, 6-15 (20) cmlong, 3-6.5 (8) cm wide, glabrous, coriaceous, the major lateralveins raised below, with a conspicuous submarginal collecting veinand prominulous reticulate veins; stipules nearly encircling stem,5-9 (15) mm long, deciduous. Flowers dense, in globular clusters4-9 mm diam, completely concealed before anthesis byshort-stipitate, round, peltate bracts; peduncles obsolete or to 5mm long; perianth obsolete; staminate flowers many, the stamensolitary, the anther circular, eccentrically peltate, ca 1 mm diam,dehiscing by 2 basal valves; pistillate flowers 1 or 2 at center ofclusters, the stigmas deeply 2-lobed, the lobes exserted 4-7 mmbefore staminate flowers open, spreading, subulate. Fruit afalse drupe, ± globose, 1-1.5 (2) cm diam, with minute roundprotuberances, with an apical depression; seed 1. Croat10306, 1164 7
Common in the forest. Seasonal behavior uncertain. Apparentlyflowers from November to May, mostly during the dry season. Thefruits mature from May to October and are eaten when ripe bymonkeys (Hladik & Hladik, 1969).
Carpenter (1934) reported that fruits of this species are secondonly to Ficus as food for most animals of the forest. Bats play aprincipal role in their dispersal (R. Foster, pers. comm.). Theouter shell of the fruit is often thrown to the ground.
The subspecies bolivarense is distinguished from thesubspecies alicastrum byhaving anthers with free thecae;anthers of the subspecies alicastrum are peltate with thethecae fused.
The typical subspecies ranges from Mexico to Costa Rica and theWest Indies. The subspecies bolivarense ranges from CostaRica through the Andes to Guyana and Brazil (Acre Territory). InPanama, known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone,Chiriqui, Panama, and Darién. Reported from tropical wetforest in Costa Rica (Holdridge et al., 1971).
