Endemic Plant - Melinosma obtusifolia

Arroyo, Cacaillo, Ciralillo, Guayarote (Sp.), (No common Eng. name), Melinosma obtusifolia(Sci.), rare endemic plant, Luquillo mountains northeastern Puerto Rico.

Information compiled by Alan Mowbray, USDA Forest Service, El Yunque National Forest – 2010.

General Information:

Family- Sabiaceae, Genus- Melinosma, Species- M. obtusifolia: rare shrub or small tree known only to the Luquillo Mountains. First collected many years ago in Luquillo Mountains.

Description:

The Arroyo is a medium-sized evergreen tree which can grow to 65 feet (19.8 meters) with a trunk diameter of more than 1 foot (0.3 meter). The bark is light-brown, becoming fissured with maturity. The inner bark is pink, becoming reddish-brown when exposed to air. Twigs are slender and brown in color with fine rusty-brown hairs when immature. Thick and leathery, hairless leaves crowded together near the ends of twigs are typically 6 inches (15 centimeters) long and 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) wide. The upper surfaces are shiny-green and deeply veined; lower surfaces are dull light green. Flower clusters are large and branched, 2.5 to 5 inches (6.4 to 12.7 centimeters) long at ends of twigs and leaf bases, often longer than leaves. The many stalkless flowers from greenish buds have five irregularly sized petals. The numerous fruits, light green when immature, are hard and dry, containing a single seed within a large stone. Flowers and fruits emerge throughout the year.

Habitat:

M. obtusifolia is an extremely rare species in the El Yunque, Guillarte and Maricao forests of Puerto Rico’s eastern Cordillera Centrál (Central Mountain Corridor), between 1,800 and 3,000 feet (548 and 914 meters) elevation.

Threats:

M. obtusifolia is currently listed as “non-threatened” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Additional Information:

Tropical Vegetation Specialist
USDA Forest Service
El Yunque National Forest
HC-01 Box 13490
Rio Grande, PR 00745
Telephone: 787 888 1810

Little, Elbert L. & Wadsworth, Frank H. (1974), Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Volume 2, Agriculture Handbook No. 449, US Department of Agriculture – Forest Service, Washington DC; p.496 (Text), p.497 (illustration).

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