Bourreria succulenta Jacq.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Boraginaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Bourreria succulenta Jacq.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Shrub or tree to 8 m tall; bark smooth grayish or light brown. Leaf blades 5-15 x 4-8 cm, elliptic, oblong, or ovate, glabrous, chartaceous to coriaceous, the apex obtuse, acute, notched and mucronate, the base tapering, the margins entire and slightly revolute; petioles 0.5-1.5 cm long. Inflorescences with straight branches. Calyx green, bell-shaped, 4-5 mm long, with 5 ovate lobes, irregularly splitting and persistent in fruit; corolla white, the tube 5-6 mm long, greenish yellow within at base, the lobes 6-8 mm long, rounded; anthers and style exserted, the stigma 2- lobed, each lobe nearly globose. Fruit turning from green to redorange, 5-12 mm diam., shiny, nearly globose or ovoid, apiculate at apex.

  • Discussion

    Common names: chink, chinkwood, juniper, pigeon berry, pigeon wood, spoon tree.

    Note: Sterile specimens of Cordia laevigata Lam. are often confused with B. succulenta. However, B. succulenta has leaves that are glabrous beneath, whereas C. laevigata has leaves that are canescent beneath.