Richeria grandis

Richeria grandis is a tree species in the family Phyllanthaceae which ranges from the Lesser Antilles to South America.^{[1]: 687–688} The species is reputed to have aphrodisiac properties.^[2]: 105

Richeria grandis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Phyllanthaceae
Genus:	Richeria
Species:	R. grandis
Binomial name
Richeria grandis Vahl

Description

Staminate (male) flowers of Richeria grandis.

Pistillate (female) flowers of Richeria grandis.

Richeria grandis is a large, evergreen tree with brown bark and a brownish-orange inner bark. It has simple, alternate leaves with an entire margin. The leaves are large,^[3]: 224 generally 10–20 centimetres (4–8 in) long^[4] up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 13 centimetres (5 in) wide.^[3] The species is dioecious—male and female flowers are borne on separate plants. The male inflorescences are 3–10 centimetres (1–4 in) long with 3-7 flowers; the female inflorescences are 3–5 centimetres (1–2 in) long. The fruit is a capsule, about 1 centimetre (0.4 in) long.^[4]

Taxonomy

The species was first described by Martin Vahl in 1797.^[1] The species was placed in the Euphorbiaceae, but that family was split up after molecular work showed that the family was polyphyletic. Richeria was moved into a new family, the Phyllanthaceae, when the subfamily Phyllanthoideae was elevated as a result of this split in the Euphorbiaceae.^[5][6]

Ecology

Richeria grandis is a common species in montane forests in parts of the Caribbean and South America.^[7][8] Ariel Lugo and colleagues reported that the species suffered higher levels of damage than most trees after Hurricane David hit the island of Dominica in 1979.^[9] The species is an aluminium accumulator, and is capable of accumulating as much as 15,000 ppm of aluminium in its leaves.^[8] The plant was able to tolerate the potentially toxic levels of aluminium primarily by depositing the metal in the cell walls of its leaves.^[10]

The polypore Porogramme richeriae was described based on collections from the trunk of R. grandis in Guadeloupe.^[11]

Uses

Richeria grandis is one of several species including Parinari campestris and Roupala montana which known by the common name bois bandé. These species are reputed to have aphrodisiac properties.^[2]