Krugiodendron ferreum (Vahl) Urb.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Rhamnaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Krugiodendron ferreum (Vahl) Urb.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Shrub or small tree, 5-10 m tall; bark light brown, fissured; twigs nearly cylindric, puberulent. Leaves opposite or nearly so; blades 3-5.8 x 2-3.5 cm, ovate to elliptic, chartaceous, glabrous, the apex acute to obtuse, emarginate, the base obtuse or rounded, the margins entire to slightly crenate; petioles 2-5 mm long, puberulent; stipules subulate, ca. 1 mm long. Rowers greenish, 5-merous, in short axillary cymes, the axes puberulent, to 1 cm long; pedicels 2.5-3 mm long. Calyx greenish, puberulent or glabrous without, the sepals 1.2-1.4 mm long, triangular, glabrous within, deciduous in fruit; petals wanting; stamens ca. 1.2 mm long, yellowish; disk annular, bright yellow, fleshy, adnate to base of ovary; ovary superior, greenish, 2-locular, each locule with a solitary ovule. Fruit a 1-seeded, nearly globose drupe, 5-7 mm long, turning from green to purplish red at maturity. Seeds ellipsoid, 4 mm long.

    Distribution and Ecology - A common tree of coastal dry forests and middleelevation moist forests. Little Lameshur Bay (A2024), Maria Bluff (A2332). Also on Jost van Dyke, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; throughout the West Indies, southern Horida, southern Mexico to Honduras.

  • Discussion

    Common names: ebony, guatafer, ironwood.