Xylosma buxifolia A.Gray

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Salicaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Xylosma buxifolia A.Gray

  • Description

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    Species Description - Dioecious shrub 2-8 m tall; turnk armed with branched spines; branches angled, glabrescent, usually with axillary spines, the spines 4-15 mm long. Leaf blades 1.5-5 x 0.8 -3.2 cm, elliptic to obovate, rigid coriaceous, glabrous, the apex acute to rounded, often mucronate, seldom retuse, the base cuneate or obtuse, the margins revolute, entire or crenulate- serrate; petioles 1-3 mm long. Flowers in axillary fascicles; sepals lanceolate 1-1.5 mm long, ciliate, reflexed; nectary disk lobed, glabrous; stamens 8-20, the filaments 2-3mm long; ovary ovoid, glabrous, the styles 2, connate at base, the stigma 2-lobed. Berry ovoid to globose glabrous, 4-5 mm diam., turning from red to black. Seeds 2-4 per fruit, ca. 3 mm long, nearly ovoid.

  • Distribution

    An uncommon shrub found in moist forests to coastal tickets. Bordeaux Mountain (W686). Also on St. Croix and Virgin Gorda throughout the West Indies (except Jamaica).

    West Indies| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Saint Croix Virgin Islands of the United States South America| Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America|