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

Levin, Geoffrey A., 2013, A synopsis of the New World species of Drypetes section Drypetes (Putranjivaceae) with asymmetrical fruits, including description of a new species, PhytoKeys 29, pp. 75-87 : 82-83

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).