Morinda citrifolia 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
Rubiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Shrub or small tree 2-4 m tall, usually with a few stems from base; bark light to dark brown, smooth; twigs glabrous, 4-angled. Leaves opposite; blades 9.5-33 X 5-20.3 cm, elliptic, widely elliptic to ovate, chartaceous, glabrous except for tufts of hairs in axils of the midveins, the apex obtuse to short-acuminate, the base obtuse to nearly rounded, the margins entire; petioles 5-25 mm long, stout; stipules 1.5-2 cm long, foliaceous, spreading. Flowers 5-6-merous, fragrant, sessile, in axillary heads, sunken into a portion of an expanded, fleshy peduncle. Hypanthium 1.8-2 mm long, cup-shaped, glabrous, green, truncate at apex; corolla trumpet-shaped, the tube 10-12 mm long, white to greenish without, pilose within, the lobes nearly lanceolate, spreading, 4-5 mm long, white; stamens 5-6, included, the filaments ca. 1 mm long, the anthers oblong, ca. 3 mm long; style stout, exserted, with 2 recurved stigmas. Compound fruit ovoid to potato-shaped, fleshy, 4-15 cm long, whitish to cream-colored, with a strong unpleasant smell especially when mature or decomposing, the surface with numerous pentagonal units (each representing a single ovary) with a central eye (scar where the corolla was attached); pyrenes 5-6 per single ovary, each containing a single seed.
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Discussion
Common names: headache tree, monkey apple, pain in the back bush, painkiller, starvation fruit
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Distribution
A native of Asia and Australia. Becoming increasingly common on St. John, particularly along sandy beaches and in disturbed coastal areas. Chocolate Hole (A1843), Cinnamon Bay (A622). Also on St. Croix and St. Thomas; widely distributed throughout the Caribbean.
Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Asia| Tasmania Australia|