Rauvolfia nitida Jacq.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Apocynaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Rauvolfia nitida Jacq.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Tree to 20 m tall. Leaves whorled (4 per node); blades 6-15 x 1.8-4.5 cm, elliptic, oblong or rarely lanceolate, chartaceous to nearly coriaceous, upper surface shiny, secondary veins 14-20 on each side, almost perpendicular to central one, the apex acute or acuminate, the base obtuse or tapering, usually oblique, the margins entire or wavy and revolute; petioles 0.3-1 cm long. Calyx cup-shaped, ca. 2 mm long, the sepals ca. 1 mm . long, rounded; corolla cream or greenish white, the tube 4-5.5 mm long, pubescent within, the lobes 2-3 mm long, rounded, spreading. Fruit 8-12 mm broad, purple, shiny, smooth, with 2 fused drupes or one of them partially developed.

  • Discussion

    Common names: bitter ash, milk bush, milk tree.

  • Distribution

    Common in dry coastal thickets to moist forests. Bordeaux Mountain (A2878), Cinnamon Bay (A2092). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Tortola; Greater Antilles, St. Kitts, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Trinidad.

    Trinidad and Tobago South America| Martinique South America| Guadeloupe South America| Saint Kitts and Nevis South America| 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|