Crescentia linearifolia Miers

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Bignoniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Crescentia linearifolia Miers

  • Description

    Species Description - Small tree to 7 m tall, with hanging branches; lateral branches short and verrucose. Leaves fascicled on lateral branches, simple; blades 0.5-8.5 x 0.1-1.8 cm, linear, or narrowly oblanceolate, chartaceous, glabrous except for dotlike scales on lower surface, tertiary venation finely reticulate, the apex obtuse, acute, or acuminate, the base tapering into a swollen end, without a discrete petiole, the margins entire or slightly wavy and revolute. Flowers solitary or paired at end of the lateral branches. Calyx green, 2.5-3 cm long, glabrous, tubular, thick, deeply parted into 2, obovate, concave lobes; corolla greenish, 4-7.5 cm long, bell-shaped, with a transverse folding near the base, the lobes shortly deltoid, with caudate apex; stamens nearly exserted; ovary conical, 5-7 mm long, with an annular disk at base. Fruit globose, depressedglobose or ellipsoid, 5-10 cm long, turning from green to brown, usually hanging from trunks or branches. Seeds < 1 cm long, whitish.

  • Discussion

    Crescentia microcarpa Bello, Anales Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat. 10: 294. 1881.

    Common names: black calabash, calabash tree, jumbie calabash, minie gobi

  • Distribution

    Common throughout the island, especially in dry areas. Holter Road (A2342) Lameshur (B601). Also on St. Thomas; Puerto Rico.

    Puerto Rico South America| Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America|