Drypetes gentryi Monach., Phytologia 3: 32. 1948, as "gentryii"

3. Drypetes gentryi Monach., Phytologia 3: 32. 1948, as "gentryii"

Type.

Mexico. Sinaloa: Capadero, Sierra Tacuichamona, rocky canyon under basaltic rim, 3500 ft., 13 Feb 1940 (fr), H. S. Gentry 5597 (holotype: NY, isotypes: ARIZ, MICH, MO).

Distribution.

Western Mexico, in the Sierra Madre Occidental from near 27° N in Chihuahua and Sonora to about 19° N in Colima.

Ecology.

Tropical deciduous forests at about 100-1100m.

Phenology.

Flowering December-February. Fruiting December-June.

Conservation status.

Least Concern. Drypetes gentryi is widespread in the lower elevations of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

Discussion.

When Monachino (1948) described Drypetes gentryi , he examined only a single specimen. No other descriptions of the species have been published, so I provide here an expanded description:

Trees 8-25 m, often with multiple trunks from near base, to 20-100 cm dbh; bark scaled and with longitudinal fissures; branches brown when young, becoming gray, minutely puberulent with spreading hairs, becoming glabrous. Leaves: stipules 0.5-0.6 × 0.7-1 mm, deltate, puberulent; petiole 6-12 × 0.7-1 mm, puberulent with spreading hairs or glabrous; blade elliptic to lanceolate, straight or somewhat curved, 4-15 × 1.5-4 cm, base asymmetrical, acute to narrowly obtuse, margins subentire to crenulate-serrulate, often undulate, apex attenuate, surfaces glabrous or very sparsely pubescent with appressed hairs especially near base, 2° veins 6-9/side. Inflorescences axillary fascicles; staminate 20-40-flowered, bracts 0.5 × 0.5 mm, deltate, puberulent, pedicels 7-14 × 0.2 mm, glabrous; pistillate 1-6-flowered, bracts 0.5 x0.5 mm, deltate, puberulent, pedicels 3-10 × 0.4-0.5 mm, puberulent when young, becoming glabrous. Staminate flowers: sepals 5(-6), linear to narrowly triangular, 1.2 × 0.4 mm, spreading and slightly incurved at apex, apex bluntly acute, margins ciliate, abaxial surface glabrous except puberulent at apex, adaxial surface puberulent; stamens 5(-6), mostly opposite sepals, filaments 1.6-2.2 mm × 0.1 mm, glabrous, anthers 0.8-1 × 0.5-0.6 mm, glabrous, latrorse; disc lobed between stamens, densely puberulent. Pistillate flowers: sepals 5, narrowly triangular to linear, 1-1.2 × 0.3-0.4 mm, spreading, entire, apex bluntly acute, abaxial surface glabrous to sparsely puberulent but densely puberulent at apex, adaxial surface densely puberulent; disc annular, densely puberulent; ovary densely puberulent; style absent; stigma apical at anthesis, becoming subapical during fruit development, subreniform, 0.8 × 1.2 mm, glabrous. Drupes (immature) green, 1-carpellate, obovoid, 12-15 × 7-9 × 6-8 mm, apex strongly asymmetrical, densely puberulent with very short hairs (0.1 mm). Seed 1.

The mature fruits are described as white ( Bye 6066) or yellow ( Bye et al. 12847), with the mesocarp juicy and both sweet and astringent ( Bye et al. 12847). Spanish vernacular names include cortopico ( Gentry 5597), palo masiso ( Bye 9707), and tempisque ( Bye 3401, Bye et al. 12847); in Tarahumara it is called bapible ( Bye 3401) or kafe ( Bye et al. 12847), and in Guarijio joyarí ( Felger et al. 94-56).

Selected specimens examined.

MEXICO. Chihuahua: Mpio. Batopilas, north side of Barranca de Batopilas, along arroyo Samachique between Rio Batopilas and Tarahuamara village of Wimivo, 27°09'N, 107°38'W, 900-1000 m, 30 May 1980 (fr), Bye 9707 (ARIZ, DAV, F, GH, ILLS, MEXU, MICH, MO, NY, SD, TEX, UCR, US); Colima: canyon near Rio Marabasco (Cihuatlan) bridge on road to Chacala, north of Santiago, 19°17'N, 104°19'W, 200-250 m, 21 Jan 1988 (fr), Levin & Dice 1975 (MO, SD); Jalisco: canyon east of Highway 200 ca. 2 km east-southeast of Boca de Tomatlan, at bridge, 20°03'N, 105°18'W, 100-200 m, 25 Jan 1988 (♂), Levin & Dice 2001 (MO, SD); Sonora: Arroyo Gochico ca. 8 km E of San Bernardo, 27°02'04"N, 108°04'07"W, 300 m, 31 Jan 1988 (♀ fl, fr) Levin et al. 2015 (MO, SD).