Cordia sulcata DC.

• Title

  Cordia sulcata DC.

• Authors

  Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne

• Scientific Name

  Cordia sulcata A.DC.

• Description

  Flora Borinqueña Cordia sulcata Moral White Manjack Family Ehretiaceae Ehretia Family Cordia sulcata De Candolle, Prodromus 9; 488. 1845. Conspicuous by very large, rough leaves, and large, broad clusters of small, white flowers and fruits, this forest and woodland tree is frequent in the wet and moist parts of Porto Rico, from lower to higher elevations, ascending to about 900 meters, growing also on Vieques Island. It ranges west into Santo Domingo, Haiti and Cuba, eastward through the Virgin Islands, and through the Lesser Antilles from Saba to St. Vincent. Another Spanish name is Moral de paz. An account of the genus Cordia may be found with our description of Cordia nitida. Cordia sulcata (grooved, referring to the twigs) is a tree from 6 to 20 meters high, with furrowed bark and velvety, grooved twigs. Its characteristic leaves are from 10 to 30 centimeters long, ovate to elliptic, rough on both sides, with wavy or continuous margins, a pointed apex, and a rounded or somewhat heart-shaped base; their stout stalks from 1 to 1.5 centimeters long. The very numerous flowers form clusters from 8 to 20 centimeters broad, the individual ones stalkless; the velvety calyx, obovoid in bud, is 3 or 4 millimeters long, the corolla about 4 millimeters broad. The nearly globular fruits, yellowish translucent when young, become white, and from 6 to 8 millimeters in diameter when mature.