Alibertia edulis (Rich.) A.Rich. ex Dc.

Species

Angiosperms > Gentianales > Rubiaceae > Alibertia

Characteristics

Shrubs or small trees, presumably dioecious, the branchlets terete or often ultimately angular, smooth, glabrous, stiffly ascending. Leaves narrowly oblong, falcately oblong, oblong, ovate or rarely obovate-oblong, 6-20 cm long, 2-8 cm wide, deltoid at the apex, acuminate, the acumen to 0.1 cm long, usually acute, deltoid to obtuse at the base; the costa plane to prominulous above, prominent beneath, to 0.2 cm wide, glabrous, the lateral veins 6-15, arcuate, to 2 cm apart, thin-coriaceous, lustrous, glabrous; petioles 0.5-1.0 cm long, rarely absent, gla-brous; stipules connate or free, deltoid, narrowly deltoid or obovate-oblong, ca. 1.5(-2.0) cm long, 0.4-0.6 cimwide, attenuate-acuminate, the acumen often longer than the corpus, scarious, striate-venose, glabrous. Inflorescences of 1 to several terminal flowers subtended' by broadly-ovate bracts shorter than or exceeding the hypanthium in-length, the buds with the apex of the corolla acute and dilated. Flowers sessile; unisexual, the pistillate'-fl-owers solitary, the staminate flowers in a cluster of about 8; hypanthium and calycine cup ca. 0.5 cm long, carnose, glabrous, the teeth 5-4)',' deltoid;to linear, to 1.8 mm long, acute to obtuse; corolla white, the tube 1-3 cm long, glabrous or villosulose outside, subcoria-ceous, the lobes 4-5, imbricate', oblong, to 2 cm long, often exceeding the tube; stamens usually (4-)5(-S8), the anthers narrowly oblong, 5-13 mm long, ca. 13 mm long in male flowers, ca.-5 mm long in female flowers, 0.8-1.0 mm wide, often minutely apiculate, dorsifixedj-thefilaments short, ca. 0.5 cm long; ovarian
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A small, erect tree. It grows 3-5 m tall. The leaves are shiny green and like avocado leaves. They are papery and 8-25 cm long. Plants are separately male and female. The female flowers are white and occur singly at the end of the branches. Male flowers are in round heads. The fruit is green and similar in size and shape to a pomegranate. They are 2-4 cm long by 2-4 cm wide. Its pulp is black. It is 7-8 cm across. The pulp is fleshy and sweet. There are many angular, flattened seeds. These are 0.5 cm across.
disc doughnut-shaped, occasionally scalloped, 1.0-1.8 mm long, 0.75-1.50 mm wide, the style expanding toward the apex, the stigmas 3-4, crassate, oblong, to 1.8 mm long, the ovary 4-celled. Fruits terminal, sessile, solitary, rotund to com-pressed-rotund, to 3 cm in diam., the persistent calyx coroniform and cylindrical, to 0.5 cm long, rarely to 1 cm long, ligneous, smooth, glabrous; seeds numerous in a slimy pulp, suborbicular, ca. 0.5 cm in diam., striate.
Life form perennial
Growth form
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality dioecy
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 3.5 - 4.5
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

It is a tropical plant. It grows in the hot tropical lowlands. It grows in open places in the Amazon in Brazil. It is common along creeks. In Central America it grows from sea level to 1,000 m altitude. It grows in the dry zone.
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Forests, usually in areas that do not become inundated. A characteristic plant of savannahs and open woodland, especially in low, secondary formations.
Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 10-11

Usage

The ripe fruit are eaten fresh or used to make jellies and sweets. They are used in drinks. The roasted seeds are used as a coffee substitute.
Uses charcoal coffee substitute food medicinal timber wood
Edible fruits seeds
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Plants are grown from seed. To collect seeds the ripe fruit are harvested and allowed to partly decompose in plastic bags then the seeds are washed out under running water. Seeds need to be planted fresh. Seedlings emerge in 50-60 days.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Alibertia edulis leaf picture by Juan Carlos Ordonez (cc-by-sa)
Alibertia edulis leaf picture by Álvarez Leonardo (cc-by-sa)
Alibertia edulis leaf picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Flower

Alibertia edulis flower picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Alibertia edulis flower picture by SINAC oscar (cc-by-sa)
Alibertia edulis flower picture by Daniel Barthelemy (cc-by-sa)

Fruit

Alibertia edulis fruit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Alibertia edulis fruit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)
Alibertia edulis fruit picture by Nelson Zamora Villalobos (cc-by-nc)

Distribution

Alibertia edulis world distribution map, present in Belize, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, Suriname, and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Conservation status

Alibertia edulis threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:743001-1
WFO ID wfo-0000941730
COL ID 8W5SS
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 769207
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Alibertia tobagensis Genipa edulis Alibertia utilis Sabicea edulis Cordiera edulis Amaioua edulis Amaioua utilis Alibertia trinitatis Gardenia edulis Alibertia edulis

Lower taxons

Alibertia edulis var. obtusiuscula Alibertia edulis var. edulis Alibertia edulis var. premontana