Sapium

milktrees
Sapium glandulosum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Subfamily: Euphorbioideae
Tribe: Hippomaneae
Subtribe: Hippomaninae
Genus: Sapium
Jacq. 1760,[1] conserved name, not Sapium P. Browne 1756[2]
Synonyms[3]
  • Sapiopsis Müll.Arg.
  • Seborium Raf.

Sapium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Euphorbiaceae.[4][5] It is widespread across most of Latin America and the West Indies.[3][6] Many Old World species were formerly included in the genus, but recent authors have redistributed all the Old World species into other genera.[7]

Species are known commonly as milktrees.[8]

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[3]
  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
  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
formerly included

over 200 names moved to other genera: Alchornea, Anomostachys, Antidesma, Conosapium, Excoecaria, Gymnanthes, Hippomane, Microstachys, Sclerocroton, Sebastiania, Shirakiopsis, Spirostachys, Stillingia, Triadica, etc.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sapium.
Wikispecies has information related to: Sapium
  1. ↑ "Sapium Jacq.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2007-10-05. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  2. ↑ Tropicos, search for Sapium
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  4. ↑ Jacquin, Nicolaus Joseph von. 1790. Enumeratio Systematica Plantarum, quas in insulis Caribaeis 9, 31 in Latin
  5. ↑ Tropicos, Sapium Jacq.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ Kruijt, R. C. (1996). A taxonomic monograph of Sapium Jacq., Anomostachys (Baill.) Hurus., Duvigneaudia J. Léonard and Sclerocroton Hochst. (Euphorbiaceae tribe Hippomaneae). Biblioth. Bot. 146, 1-109.
  8. ↑ Sapium. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).