Eugenia uniflora: Surinam cherry

Pitanga, Surinam Cherry, Cayenne Cherry, Brazil Cherry, Capuli, Guinday, Ñangapiré, Pedanga,… all these names and more receives this South American shrub of the Myrtaceae family. Their scientific names are also numerous: Eugenia uniflora, Eugenia microphylla, Myrtus brasiliana, Stenocalyx uniflorus and Plinia pedunculata. The Indians of Paraguay and northeast of Argentina call Ñanga-piri in their guarani language. 

 Ripe fruit of Eugenia uniflora in November. The leaves draw attention that with the cold of the autumn acquire an alive red blood color when synthesizing anthocyanins like mechanism of defense against the low temperatures. The Pitanga of the photo is a unit worked in a coastal town of Majorca Island located in the west of the Mediterranean basin, where the frosts are rare, smooth and of little duration.

 

 Flowers of Pitanga in April. They have the typical structure of all Myrtaceae. Particularly striking is the faint red line running through the petals and the blood red color of the leaves.

 Same flowers earlier view from another angle. Give off a sweet perfume which attracts pollinating bees.

Leaves of Surinam Pitanga in February, the coldest month of Majorca. The concentration of anthocyanin is maximum. With this so dark color the leaves are warmed up with solar rays and thus avoid the intense cold freeze. In especially cold winters with heavy frosts the Pitanga behaves as deciduous and loses all the leaves to survive. Temperatures below -3ºC kill the young units and below -5ºC damage the adult plants mortally. 

In summer the leaves lacking anthocyanin and have a nice light green. The crushed leaves contain a resin that repels flies. The infusion of the leaves has diuretic, digestive and anti-diarrheal. The bark decoction as a gargle relieves throat illnesses.

In South America Eugenia uniflora is an evergreen tropical shrubs and flowers and fruits several times a year. Its natural habitat is the tropical jungles of the two Guyanas, Suriname, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The Portuguese traders took to the Far East where it is now widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in India, Philippines, Samoa, Sri Lanka and China, but also eat fruit. In recent decades has been introduced as a garden plant in many other countries in the world with tropical, subtropical and temperate, thanks to its adaptability and its ability to behave as deciduous. In some countries there has been wild.

Surinam Cherry or Pitanga an intense dark red very bright. They draw attention to the eight ribs. The flesh is very juicy and sweet and has an exotic resinous taste, less pronounced when fully ripe. It is rich in vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin A, iron, calcium and phosphorus. Pitanga fresh juice is delicious. With the pulp is prepared jellies and jams.

Details of the eight ribs and persistent calyx. Inside each fruit is a spherical seed or two or three flattened seeds which are highly perishable and should be sown as soon as possible in a few days they lose their ability to germinate.

Eugenia uniflora prefers acidic soils rich in organic matter with a pH between 5.5 and 6.5, but tolerates slightly alkaline land than they are not karsts. Likes full sun to grow from sea level to 1700 meters. and reaches 7.5 meters.

Cystopteris viridula was born in the Pangea supercontinent

The first dinosaurs were fed on its fronds

Its present distribution in center and south of America, in North Africa, in southwest of Europe and in the islands of the Macaronesia clearly indicate in what moment of the evolution of the continents Cystopteris viridula was formed. It is one of oldest fern of the Earth and it belongs to the Athyriaceae family. The supercontinent Pangaea was its cradle makes about 230 million years during the Upper Triassic. Its appearance on the Earth agreed with the one of the first dinosaurs after the Massive Extinction of the Permian-Triassic, happened makes 250 million years, in which 90% of the species were extinguished.

Several Cystopteris viridula next to a unit of Greenovia aurea in a very humid volcanic rock wall located in the North face of the Pico del Teide to 1440 msnm. I recommend to extend the photos with a double click.

It makes about 220 million years, during the Upper Triassic, the supercontinent Pangaea began to disintegrate itself, forming a great crack that divided it in two continents: Laurasia and Gondwana with the Ocean of Tetis among them. The Cystopteris viridula fern already took about 10 million years on the Earth and lived in all that one vast region that enjoyed a warm and humid climate. The cracking of Pangaea fragmented its population between both new great supercontinents.

Cystopteris viridula at the beginning of May in the humid crack of a volcanic rock oriented towards the north in the Island of Tenerife.

During the following million years the supercontinent Laurasia was divided in two parts: North America that went moving towards the northwest and Eurasia towards the northeast, forming among them the Atlantic Ocean.

 Another Cystopteris viridula bringing forth new fronds in May vigorously.

It makes about 150 million years also Gondwana began to disintegrate itself in new continents. At first meetings South America and Africa cracked, but in a moment they separated. The tectonic plate of South America went moving quickly towards the west, while Africa traveled slowly towards the north approaching Eurasia and narrowing the Ocean of Tetis that diminished much its extension and happened to be the Sea of Tetis.

 Fronds of Cystopteris viridula that can get to measure up to 40 centimeters, although those of the image they do not surpass the 15 centimeters. The petiole is shorter than the lamina, which is ovate-lanceolate and bipennate.

The rest of Gondwana, the great tectonic plate formed by India-Madagascar-Antarctic-Australia soon cracked in two subcontinents. On the one hand the block formed by Madagascar and India that at first traveled together towards the northeast and soon separated, being run aground Madagascar to few kilometers of Africa, while India moved quickly towards the north until colliding violently with the tectonic plate of Asia and forming the Mountain range of the Himalayas. And finally the other block formed by the Antarctic and Australia that during several million years moved meetings towards the east and soon separated. The tectonic plate of Australia continued traveling single towards the east and the Antarctic went towards the South Pole.

 Ovate-lanceolate pinnae with the apex slightly caudate or acuminate. The pinnulae have showy nerves of darker green color.

The insertion of pinnae in rachis is oposite or alternate. The pinnae are oblong, whole and cuneate in the base.

The pinnules have teeth with the tip usually emarginate, ie with a tiny notch, especially in the more distal teeth each pinnula. The secondary veins ending in the heart of the notch or emargination.

In underside of this frond the tiny still immature sori can be seen. They belong to a unit that lives in Puerto de Izaña of Tenerife Island to about 2000 msnm.

Mature sori of Cystopteris viridula. They are very small and little showy, that is to say, very discreet. They are covered by a white ovate to suborbicular indusium with glandular hairs or rarely glabrous. Each sorus contains one to five sporangia in the form of black small balls. 

Near image of mature sporangia. When the sensors of humidity and temperature of the Cystopteris viridula detect that the suitable conditions occur to disperse spores, the small black sporangia will unfold violently as small catapults and will send spores more far possible of their mother to colonize new territories and to perpetuate therefore the species. In the image can be seen sori with a single sporangium, with two and with three. This low number of sporangia is a typical characteristic of all the Cystopteris.