Erithalis fruticosa L.

  • Authority

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

  • Family

    Rubiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Erithalis fruticosa L.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Shrub 1-2 m tall, usually with numerous upright decussate branches; twigs slightly flattened, glabrous and green when young, older branches with leaf scars and persistent stipules. Leaf blades 4-10 X 2-6 cm, obovate, elliptic, to widely elliptic, coriaceous, glabrous, the apex obtuse or seldom acute, the base acute to attenuate, the margins entire, revolute; petioles 5-20 mm long; stipules deltoid, 2-3 mm long. Flowers many in axillary long peduncled cymes, 5-10 cm long; pedicels 4-10 mm long. Hypanthium 1-1.5 mm long, green, ovoid, longitudinally ribbed; calyx cup-shaped, 1-1.5 mm long, truncate or obscurely toothed; corolla nearly funnel-shaped, white, the tube 1-2 mm long, the lobes 5, reflexed, oblong, 3.5-4.5 mm long; stamens long-exserted, the filaments white, the anthers lineate; style long-exserted, clubshaped. Drupe 5-7 mm long, oblate or depressed-globose and black, or ovoid to globose and white.

  • Discussion

    Note: A specimen with white ovoid to globose fruits (A2903) is included under this name because of the almost identical vegetative and floral characters. Further studies may show this collection to be a different species.

  • Distribution

    A common shrub of sandy coastal thickets and forests. Hawksnest Beach (A2904), Reef Bay (A3988), Southside Pond (A1812). Also on Anegada, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Florida, Mexico (Yucatan), Belize, widespread throughout the West Indies.

    West Indies| Belize Central America| México Mexico North America| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America| Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States 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|