Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav.) Oken
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Boraginaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Tree 4-15 m tall; bark dark gray and rough; branches covered with stellate hairs. Leaf blades 7-18.5 x 3-7 cm, elliptic, lanceolate, or oblanceolate, slightly scabrous above, densely covered with stellate hairs especially on lower surface, chartaceous to coriaceous, the apex long-acuminate, the base obtuse and unequal, the margins wavy; petioles 1-2.5 cm long, densely covered with stellate hairs. Inflorescences paniculate, with lateral cymes, the flowers closely packed. Calyx green, tubular to bell-shaped, 6-7 mm long, densely stellate and striate; corolla white, trumpetshaped, and persistent, the tube 3-7 mm long, the lobes spatulate, ascending, as long as the tube; anthers and styles exserted beyond the tube, the styles 2, fused most of their length, the stigmas 4. Fruit dry, 5 mm long, cylindrical to fusiform, enclosed by dried flower parts.
Distribution and Ecology - Commonly found in moist areas but also planted along streets. Annaberg (A1925), Lameshur (B527). Also on Jost van Dyke, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Lesser Antilles, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America.
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Discussion
Cordia gerascanthus sensu Griseb., Fl. Brit. W. I. 478. 1862, nonL., 1759.