Colubrina arborescens (Mill.) Sarg.
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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
Rhamnaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Shrub or small tree 1-10 m tall, single-stemmed or manybranched from base; bark gray, smooth; twigs densely ferruginoustomentose when young. Leaf blades (4.5-)6.5-15 x (2.3-)3- 9.2 cm, ovate or elliptic, subcoriaceous, the lower surface sparsely to densely ferruginous-tomentose, with dispersed submarginal (less often close to the midvein) glandular dots, the apex obtuse, acute, or shortly acuminate, the base obtuse to rounded, the margins entire; petioles 0.5-2 cm long. Flowers clustered in short axillary cymes, with densely ferruginous-tomentose axes. Calyx densely ferruginous-tomentose without, the sepals 2-2.3 mm long, triangular, glabrous and greenish within, deciduous in fruit; petals yellowish, ca. 1.7 mm long, narrowed at base; stamens ca. 2 mm long, the filaments broader at base; disk bright yellow, fleshy, lobed to crenate; ovary green. Capsule 5-7 mm wide, globosetrigonous, with a persistent cuplike hypanthium at base, turning from green to black-brown. Seeds 3-4 mm long, shiny black.
Distribution and Ecology - A common coastal tree, found mostly in sandy soils. Haulover Point (A4225). Also on Anegada, Buck Island, Jost van Dyke, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Virgin Gorda; throughout the West Indies, southern Florida, southern Mexico, and Central America.
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Discussion
Rhamnus colubrina Jacq., Enum. Syst. PL 16. 1760. Colubrina colubrina (Jacq.) Millsp., Publ. Field Columbian Mus., Bot. Ser. 2: 69. 1900. Colubrina ferruginosa Brongn., Mem. Fam. Rham. 62. 1826.