Sapium

Last updated

Milktrees
Sapium glandulosum.jpg
Sapium glandulosum
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Subfamily: Euphorbioideae
Tribe: Hippomaneae
Subtribe: Hippomaninae
Genus: Sapium
Jacq.
Synonyms [1]

Sapium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Euphorbiaceae. [2] [3] It is widespread across most of Latin America and the West Indies. [1] [4] Many Old World species were formerly included in the genus, but recent authors have redistributed all the Old World species into other genera. [5]

Contents

Species are known commonly as milktrees. [6]

Description

These are shrubs and trees. They produce latex. The leaves are alternately arranged and smooth-edged or toothed. They are monoecious, often with spikelike or raceme-shaped inflorescences that have several male flowers, plus a few female flowers near the base. The male flowers have 2 to 4 stamens. The female flowers have 2 to 4 styles which are sometimes coiled. The flowers lack petals. The fruit has 2 to 4 lobes and may split open or not.

Species [1]
  1. Sapium adenodon - Cuba
  2. Sapium allenii - Costa Rica
  3. Sapium argutum - Fr Guiana, Suriname, Amapá, Fernando de Noronha
  4. Sapium ciliatum - Fr Guiana, Suriname, Pará
  5. Sapium cuneatum - Jamaica
  6. Sapium daphnoides - Cuba, Hispaniola
  7. Sapium glandulosum - Mexico, West Indies, Central + S America to Uruguay
  8. Sapium haematospermum - Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, Uruguay
  9. Sapium haitiense - Massif de la Hotte, Haiti
  10. Sapium jenmannii - Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, NW Brazil; naturalised in Trinidad
  11. Sapium lateriflorum - C + S Mexico, Central America
  12. Sapium laurifolium - Chiapas, Greater Antilles, Central America, NW South America
  13. Sapium laurocerasus - Puerto Rico
  14. Sapium leucogynum - Cuba
  15. Sapium macrocarpum - Mexico, Central America
  16. Sapium marmieri - Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, NW Brazil
  17. Sapium obovatum - Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay
  18. Sapium pachystachys - Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama
  19. Sapium pallidum - Bahia, Minas Gerais
  20. Sapium parvifolium - Cuba
  21. Sapium paucinervium - NE South America
  22. Sapium sellowianum - Minas Gerais, São Paulo
  23. Sapium stylare - Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador

Toxicity

The milky sap of Sapium biloculare is poisonous if it comes into contact with the eyes, mucus membranes, stomach or bloodstream. It was used in arrow poison and to stupefy fish. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Psidium</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae

Psidium is a genus of trees and shrubs in the family Myrtaceae. It is native to warmer parts of the Western Hemisphere.

<i>Oncidium</i> Genus of orchids

Oncidium, abbreviated as Onc. in the horticultural trade, is a genus that contains about 330 species of orchids from the subtribe Oncidiinae of the orchid family (Orchidaceae). As presently conceived, it is distributed across much of South America, Central America, Mexico and the West Indies, with one species (O. ensatum) extending into Florida. Common names for plants in this genus include dancing-lady orchid and golden shower orchid.

<i>Mandevilla</i> Genus of vines

Mandevilla is a genus of tropical and subtropical flowering vines belonging to the family Apocynaceae. It was first described as a genus in 1840. A common name is rocktrumpet.

<i>Cnidoscolus</i> Genus of flowering plants

Cnidoscolus is a plant genus of the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1827. The group is widespread across much of North and South America, including the West Indies.

Conceveiba is a plant genus of the family Euphorbiaceae, first described as a genus in 1775. It is native to South America and Central America.

  1. Conceveiba guianensisAubl. - Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, 3 Guianas
  2. Conceveiba hostmaniiBenth. - Guyana, Suriname, Amazonas State in Brazil
  3. Conceveiba krukoffiiSteyerm. - Venezuela, French Guiana, NW Brazil
  4. Conceveiba latifoliaBenth. - Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Amazonas State in Brazil
  5. Conceveiba martianaBaill. - Venezuela, French Guiana, NW Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
  6. Conceveiba maynasensisSecco - Loreto in Peru
  7. Conceveiba parvifoliaMcPherson - Panama, NW Colombia
  8. Conceveiba pleiostemonaDonn.Sm. - Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Colombia, Venezuela
  9. Conceveiba praealta(Croizat) Punt ex J.Murillo - NW Brazil
  10. Conceveiba ptariana(Steyerm.) Jabl. - S Venezuela
  11. Conceveiba rhytidocarpaMüll.Arg. - Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
  12. Conceveiba santanderensisJ.Murillo - NW Colombia
  13. Conceveiba terminalis(Baill.) Müll.Arg. - Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, NW Brazil, Colombia, Peru
  14. Conceveiba tristigmataJ.Murillo - Colombia, Venezuela, NW Brazil
<i>Caperonia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Caperonia is a genus of plants of the family Euphorbiaceae first described as a genus in 1825. The genus is native to tropical and subtropical America and Africa.

<i>Dalechampia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae

Dalechampia is a genus of plant of the family Euphorbiaceae and of the monogeneric subtribe Dalechampiinae. It is widespread across lowland tropical areas primarily in the Americas with smaller numbers of species in Africa, Madagascar, and southern Asia. Additional new species are still being described and several are very rare and at risk of extinction.

<i>Mabea</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants

Mabea is a plant genus of the family Euphorbiaceae first described in 1775. It is native to Central and South America as well as Mexico and Trinidad.

<i>Pouteria</i> Genus of trees

Pouteria is a genus of flowering trees in the gutta-percha family, Sapotaceae. The genus is widespread throughout the tropical Americas, with outlier species in Cameroon and Malesia. It includes the canistel, the mamey sapote, and the lucuma. Commonly, this genus is known as pouteria trees, or in some cases, eggfruits.

<i>Myrciaria</i> Genus of large shrubs and small trees

Myrciaria is a genus of large shrubs and small trees described as a genus in 1856. It is native to Central and South America, Mexico, and the West Indies, with many of the species endemic to Brazil. Common names include hivapuru, sabará, and ybapuru.

<i>Plinia</i> Genus of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae

Plinia is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae described by Linnaeus in 1753. It is native to Central and South America as well as the West Indies.

<i>Aspidosperma</i> Genus of plants

Aspidosperma is a genus of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1824. It is native to South America, Central America, southern Mexico, and the West Indies.

<i>Aegiphila</i> Genus of flowering plants

Aegiphila is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, first described in 1763. It was formerly classified in the Verbenaceae. It is native to Mexico, Central America, South America, the West Indies, and Florida.

<i>Hirtella</i> Genus of plants

Hirtella is a genus of 110 species of woody trees in family Chrysobalanaceae. It was first described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. Hirtella naturally occurs in tropical forests throughout Latin America, the West Indies, southeast Africa, and Madagascar. The flowers are mainly pollinated by butterflies.

<i>Axonopus</i> Genus of grasses

Axonopus is a genus of plants in the grass family, known generally as carpet grass. They are native primarily to the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas with one species in tropical Africa and another on Easter Island. They are sometimes rhizomatous and many are tolerant of periodic submersion.

<i>Prestonia</i> (plant) Genus of plants

Prestonia is a genus of plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1810. It is native to Mexico, Central America, South America, and the West Indies. It is closely related to Artia and Parsonsia.

<i>Olyra</i> (plant) Genus of grasses

Olyra is a genus of tropical bamboos in the grass family. It is native primarily to the Western Hemisphere, with one species extending into Africa.

<i>Sarcoglottis</i> Genus of flowering plants

Sarcoglottis is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It is widespread across much of Latin America from Mexico to Argentina, with one species extending northward into Trinidad and the Windward Islands.

<i>Chomelia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Chomelia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is native to Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and much of South America as far south as Argentina.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. Jacquin, Nicolaus Joseph von. 1790. Enumeratio Systematica Plantarum, quas in insulis Caribaeis 9, 31 in Latin
  3. Tropicos, Sapium Jacq.
  4. Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Radcliffe-Smith, A. (2000). World Checklist and Bibliography of Euphorbiaceae (and Pandaceae) 1-4: 1-1622. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  5. Kruijt, R. C. (1996). A taxonomic monograph of Sapium Jacq., Anomostachys (Baill.) Hurus., Duvigneaudia J. Léonard and Sclerocroton Hochst. (Euphorbiaceae tribe Hippomaneae). Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine Biblioth. Bot. 146, 1-109.
  6. Sapium. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
  7. Peattie, Donald Culross (1953). A Natural History of Western Trees. New York: Bonanza Books. p. 595.