Main | Family List (MO) | Family List (INBio) | Cutting Edge Draft Treatments | Guidelines | Checklist | Citing | Editors The Cutting Edge Volume XII, Number 3, July 2005 News and Notes | Recent Treatments | Leaps and Bounds | Germane Literature | Season's Pick | Annotate your copy SEASON'S PICK: Clusia croatii D'Arcy (Clusiaceae) et others of section Retinostemon. Both Clusia croatii (staminate flower, above left--Hammel 14221, mature open fruit with arrilate seeds, above right--Hammel 23665) and C. uvitana Pittier (staminate flower, above left--Hammel 9113, pistillate flower above right--Hammel 17080), are members of the Clusia minor L. group (=section Retinostemon), one of the many groups of Clusia characterized, in part, by the production of floral resins. Although detailed pollination studies for this group are lacking, sporadic observations indicate that small Meliponid bees, taking both pollen and resin, are the primary floral visitors. From young buds of the staminate flowers of these species (C. croatii, above left--Mcpherson 6702, C. uvitana, above right--Dwyer 1817), it is obvious that the resin is produced by the expanded connective of the central stamens. The resin of pistillate flowers in this group is produced by the staminodial ring that surrounds the base of the ovary. Oddly (virtually all Clusia are dioecious), C. minor itself is morphologically hermaphroditic; all flowers are pistillate and all have at least a few pollen producing anther sacs in the staminodial ring--Hammel 22418. All the species mentioned above are flowering and fruiting during this part of the rainy season. All photos are by B. Hammel. TOP