Amyris elemifera L.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Rutaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Amyris elemifera L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Shrub 1-5 m tall, with multiple branches from base; bark gray, finely fissured; twigs nearly cylindrical, dark gray, glabrous. Leaves opposite or subopposite, trifoliolate or less often 5-pinnately foliolate, slightly fragrant; leaflets 2.8-7 x 1.2-4 cm, ovate-lanceolate, coriaceous, glabrous, dull, punctations very often inconspicuous, the midvein sometimes lighter, the apex longacuminate, the base cuneate to obtuse, the margins entire or crenate; petioles 1.5-4 cm long, glabrous. Flowers 4-merous, in axillary or terminal panicles, to 5 cm long with glabrous axes. Calyx ca. 5 mm long, glabrous; petals ca. 3 mm long, obovate, punctate; stamens 8, the filaments slightly unequal, 0.5-0.7 mm long, the anthers ca. 0.6 mm long; nectary disk orange in fresh material; ovary glabrous, the stigma papillate. Berry globose, ca. 5 mm long, turning from green to black.

  • Discussion

    Amyris maritima Jacq., E n u m . Syst. P L 19. 1760.

    Common names: candle wood, flamboyant, torch wood.

  • Distribution

    A common shrub of dry forests and scrub. Cob Gut (A4233), Maria Bluff (4707), New Found Bay (A4256). Also on Jost van Dyke, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Virgin Gorda; throughout the West Indies and Trinidad.

    Trinidad and Tobago South America| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Saint Thomas Virgin Islands of the United States 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|