Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER)

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Cordia monoica
Roxburgh, Boraginaceae
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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 4 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: sandpaper saucer-berry, snot berry

Habit:  shrub/tree

Description:  "Shrub or small tree up to 5 (7) m. high; branchlets angular, usually rough and minutely fulvous-tomentose when young with stellate, ± branched or simple hairs, glabrescent. Leaves alternate; petiole 0.5-2.5 (3.5) cm. long, flat or slightly canaliculate above; lamina 3-10(14) x 2-8(10) cm., ovate, obovate or subcircular, sometimes elliptic, rough and sometimes also with some stellate or variously branched hairs above, densely pubescent to rough and often with stellate or branched hairs mainly on the nerves below, obtuse or rounded and sometimes shortly acuminate at apex, obtuse to truncate, rarely acute at base, with subentire, crenate to crenate-serrate margins, leathery and with 3-5 secondary nerves on each side of the midrib, the lower ones basal or nearly so and stronger than the other. Cymes arranged in usually few-flowered terminal or very rarely axillary panicles 1.5-5 (7) cm. long; rhachis and branches minutely fulvous-tomentose. Flowers polygamous on pedicels up to 2 mm. long. Calyx 6-8 mm. long, narrowly campanulate or infundibuliform, irregularly 3-5-toothed, rough to minutely fulvous-tomentose outside, sparsely pubescent to glabrous inside. Corolla yellow, glabrous; tube 4-7 mm. long, cylindrical; lobes (4) 5 (6), 4-6 (7) x 1-2 mm., oblong to narrowly obovate, rounded at apex, reflexed. Stamens (or staminodes) as many as the corolla lobes, inserted at the corolla-throat; filaments 1.5-4.0 mm. long, slender, glabrous or with a few long hairs at the base; anthers 1.5-2.0 mm. long on the male flowers and c. 1 mm. long on the female and male ones, but on the latter ones often almost sterile. Ovary c. 2 mm. long, ovoid-conical, glabrous, on the male flowers vestigial; style 7-9 mm. in total length, first-forked at 1.5-3.5 mm. and with stigmatic branches 2.5-5.0 mm. long, linear. Fruit 15-22 x 10-15 mm., ovoid or ellipsoid, apiculate, glabrous, orange when ripe, surrounded at the lower third by the widely enlarged campanulate calyx; mesocarp fleshy; pyrene c. 10 x 7 mm., usually deeply cleft at the apex, ± circular in cut across, 1-3-seeded"  (Flora Zambesiaca online).

"Shrub or small, multi-stemmed tree. Leaves alternate, broadly obovate-oblong to almost circular, very rough on the upper surface, covered in soft rusty hairs below; margin entire or slightly toothed. Flowers white, cream or pale yellow in dense terminal heads; petals distinctly reflexed; calyces and stalks covered in yellowish hairs. Fruit fleshy, ovoid, orange-yellow when ripe, cupped in the persistent remains of the calyx"  (Flora of Zimbabwe online).

Habitat/ecology:  In Zimbabwe (native), "in hot and dry woodland, often on rocky hill sides or termite mounds, up to 1200 m"  (Flora of Zimbabwe online).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Angola; Arabia; Burundi; east of Zaire; Mauritius; S. Africa; Swaziland; tropical Asia; tropical east Africa"  (Flora Zambesiaca online).

Presence:

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. &
Island group
Location Cited status &
Cited as invasive &
Cited as cultivated &
Cited as aboriginal introduction?
Reference &
Comments
Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia (Republic of) native
U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
Java, Lesser Sunda Islands
Indian Ocean
Country/Terr./St. &
Island group
Location Cited status &
Cited as invasive &
Cited as cultivated &
Cited as aboriginal introduction?
Reference &
Comments
Mauritius
Mautitius Islands (Mauritius and Rodrigues)
Mauritius Island native
Hyde, M. A./Wursten, B. T./Ballings, P. (2013)

Control:  If you know of control methods for Cordia monoica, please let us know.


Need more info? Have questions? Comments? Information to contribute? Contact PIER! (pier@hear.org)

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This page was created on 9 OCT 2012 and was last updated on 16 OCT 2012.