Schaefferia frutescens Jacq.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Celastraceae

  • Scientific Name

    Schaefferia frutescens Jacq.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub 2-4 m tall, many-branched from base; bark gray; young branches striate. Leaf blades 2.5-7 x 1-3.2 cm, chartaceous, elliptic, oblanceolate, or spatulate, glabrous, secondary veins ascending; the apex acute or acuminate or less often obtuse and notched, the base tapering into a short swollen petiole, the margins slightly revolute and entire. Flowers with short pedicels (1.5 mm ), fascicled in leaf axils. Calyx cup-shaped, with oblong, ca. 0.5 mm long, greenish sepals; petals oblong, ca. 1.5 mm long, whitish or cream; ovary ellipsoid in pistillate flowers, rudimentary in staminate flowers, the stigmas whitish, spreading. Drupe flattened, ellipsoid to ovoid, 4-5 mm long, turning from green to yellow or orange, with persistent reflexed stigmas at apex. Seeds 3-4 mm long, nearly ellipsoid.

  • Discussion

    Schaejferia completa Sw., Prodr. 38. 1788.

    Common name: boxwood

  • Distribution

    Common in dry forests and dry evergreen woodlands. Monte (A2375), Southside Pond (A1859). Also on Jost van Dyke, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Greater and Lesser Antilles, southern Mexico to South America.

    South America| Mexico North America| West Indies| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Tortola Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Virgin Islands South America|