Terminalia catappa L.
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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
Combretaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Tree to 20 m tall, with spreading, nearly horizontal, sympodial branches; bark grayish to light brown. Leaf blades 12-30 x 6- 18 cm, coriaceous, obovate, lower surface with appressed, rustybrown hairs, especially along the main vein, the blade foveate at vein axils, the apex obtuse or rounded, usually ending in an apiculum, the base tapering, cuneate, or subcordate, the margins entire; petioles stout, 0.5-2 cm long. Hypanthium densely covered with rusty-brown hairs; calyx yellowish, 2-2.5 mm long; filaments 3-4 mm long; disk densely rufous-tomentose. Drupe slightly fleshy, obliquely ellipsoid and somewhat flattened toward the margins, 4.5-6 cm long, turning from green to red then brown.
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Discussion
Common names: almond tree, West Indian almond.
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Distribution
Commonly planted along roads. Cruz Bay Quarter in front of Park Service Headquarters (A2917). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; native to Malaysia, now naturalized mainly in coastal areas throughout the neotropics.
Malaysia Asia| 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|