Monographs Details – Vascular Plants of the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Monographs Details:

Authority:

Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

Family:

Olacaceae

Scientific Name:

Ximenia americana L.

Description:

Species Description - A thorny shrub or small tree, rarely 6 m. high, with reddish smooth astringent bark, the slender branches spreading. Leaves oblong to orbicular, subcoriaceous, 3-7 cm. long, obtuse or emarginate at the apex, narrowed or rounded at the base, sparingly pubescent when young, mostly glabrous when old, the slender petioles 5-10 mm. long; clusters 2-4-flowered, much shorter than the leaves; calyx about 1 mm. long; corolla-lobes linear, reflexed, 1 cm. long; drupe yellow or red, 12-17 mm. in diameter.

Discussion:

Coastal white-lands and coppices, New Providence, Conception Island. Long Island, Fortune Island. Crooked Island, Caicos and Cay Sal : Florida : Cuba to Porto Rico and Martinique ; Jamaica : Mexico and South America ; Old World tropics. When growing on sand dunes this shrub is much depressed and has nearly orbicular, fleshy leaves ; when growing in coppices or scrub-lands it is tall, with elongated oblong to oblanceolate leaves. Tallow Wood. Spanish Plum.