Ixora ferrea (Jacq.) Benth.

  • 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

    Ixora ferrea (Jacq.) Benth.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Shrub or small tree 1.5-5 m tall, usually single-stemmed, with many lateral, opposite, ascending branches; bark dark brown; twigs glabrous, cylindric. Leaf blades 6.5-18 x 2.2-7.1 cm, elliptic or seldom oblong, chartaceous, glabrous, the apex acute or acuminate, the base acute, obtuse, or rounded, the margins entire; petioles 5-10 mm long, winged; stipules 4-9 mm long, subulate. Flowers 4-merous, sessile or very short-pedicellate, in congested, short, axillary cymes to 2 cm long; the axes < 5 mm long, reddish. Hypanthium 1.8-2 mm long, bell-shaped, glabrous, green or red, lobes 4, irregular, rounded at apex; corolla trumpetshaped, the tube 4-5 mm long, pinkish- or reddish-tinged, the lobes oblong, reflexed, ca. 2 mm long, white within but reddish underneath; stamens 4, exserted, the anthers oblong; style exserted, bifid at apex. Drupe 7-9 mm wide, fleshy, nearly globose or bilobed, black, crowned by the persistent sepals. Pyrenes 2 per fruit, ca. 5 mm long, each with a single seed.

  • Distribution

    A common shrub of moist secondary forests. Coral Bay Quarter at Bordeaux (A4056, A4708). Also on St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda; Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the Lesser Antilles, and northern Venezuela.

    Venezuela South America| West Indies| Puerto Rico South America| West Indies| Cuba South America| Virgin Gorda Virgin Islands South America|