Beautyleaf, Santa Maria

Calophyllum brasiliense Cambess.

cal-oh-FIIL-em bra-zil-ee-EN-see

Clusiaceae

Explanation of name: Calophyllum means beauty-leaf. Brasiliense means from Brazil.

Synonymy and misapplied name: There exists a confusing complex involving at least three species names. The Old World Calophyllum inophyllum L. is not a synonym, but is similar to C. brasiliense. See below for comparison.

            More problematic is the name C. antillanum Britton with respect to C. brasiliense.  Calophyllum antillanum has variably been treated as a distinct species, as a variety of C. brasiliense, and as having no taxonomic status. This is of particular interest because the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council lists C. antillanum as a Category I invasive exotic, while at the same time the Plant Finder lists C. brasiliense as widely available for sale. If the two are synonymous, the unwelcome invasive species and the widely marketed species are one in the same. This is the opinion of taxonomists ranging from L. H. Bailey in BA2 to Dennis Kearns in the recent Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana, a publication by the Missouri Botanical Garden (http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/ven-guayana/clusiaceae/page1.shtml). To quote Kearns: “Calophyllum brasiliense is here treated as a widespread and somewhat variable species. Minor variants have sometimes been treated as subspecies and varieties or as separate species.”

Natural range: West Indies, Mesoamerica, South America

Recognition: Tree to 40’ tall or sometimes taller, usually with more or less straight trunk and creamy-yellow latex. The leaves are distinctive: opposite, glossy, and thick with numerous closely spaced, parallel leaf veins emerging at right angles from the main vein. This character helps distinguish Beautyleaf from the similar Madagascar-Olive (which has no latex) and from the related Pitch-Apple (Clusia rosea). Also somewhat similar, the Sapodilla has alternate (vs. opposite) leaves. Calophyllum inophyllum differs from C. brasiliense by being larger in most dimensions: less-glossy leaves often > 6.5” long and 4”wide (vs. smaller), flower clusters 8” (vs. 2”) long, flowers about ¾” (vs. 0.5”) across, and fruits 1.5” (vs. 1”) in diameter. (Data largely from BA2.)

Landscape uses (some data from UFST114): Given the probability that C. brasiliense and the invasive C. antillanum are the same species, cultivation of this species in Florida is not advised. It generally serves as a mid-sized tree with straight trunk and with irregular, thick crown for planting in tough seaside or urban circumstances, singly, or in rows or groups, or as privacy screens, or pruned to remain shrubby.