Calophyllum antillanum Britton, Clusiaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  no

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Calophyllum brasiliense Camb. var. antillanum (Britton) Standl.; Calophyllum brasiliense auct. non Camb.; Calophyllum calaba Jacq., non L.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: Alexandrian laurel, Antilles calophyllum, beauty leaf, calaba, galba, Indian laurel, kamani, mast wood, Santa Maria tree

French: bois de charromage

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Tree to 25 m tall. Leaves with petioles 9 to 13 mm long, without basal, adaxial protuberance; blades elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 7-15 x 3.5-7 cm, base obtuse or cuneate, apex rounded to slightly emarginate, margin sometimes undulate, tertiary venation inconspicuous, glabrous. Flowers on pedicels 4-10 mm long; sepals rounded, decussate, outer pair 2-3 mm long, inner pair 5-7 mm long; petals 4 or wanting, oblong, to 7 x 5 mm, white; stamens or staminodes numerous; pistil globose, style 1 mm long. Fruits globose, 2-2.5 cm in diameter, green or greenish yellow; seed globose, 13 mm in diameter, cotyledons immense" (Howard, 1989; p. 320).

Habitat/ecology:  "Coastal areas, mangrove forests, tropical hammocks.  A native of woodland, closed forests and river banks in areas of higher rainfall.  Where invasive, the species forms dense stands crowding out native species and preventing their establishment. Seedlings and saplings reach high densities at the edge of mangrove swamps in Florida. The tree withstands inundation and brackish conditions"  (Weber, 2003; p. 80).  "Evergreen lowland to montane forests, gallery forests, mangrove and Mauritia palm swamps, seasonally flooded riverbanks, 0-1400 m" (Berry et al., 1998; p. 250).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Greater Antilles, St. Croix, Trinidad, Tobago (Howard, 1949; p. 171).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced	Wester, Lyndon (1992) (p. 135)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	Weber, Ewald (2003) (p. 80)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)		Hunsberger, A. G. B. (2001)

Control: 

Physical:  Hand pull seedlings and saplings

Chemical:  Cut larger trees and treat the stumps with herbicide (Weber, 2003; p. 80).

Additional information:
Information sheet from the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council.
Information from the book "Identification and biology of non-native plants in Florida's natural areas" (PDF format).

Additional online information about Calophyllum antillanum is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Calophyllum antillanum as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Calophyllum antillanum may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Berry, Paul E./Holst, Bruce K./ Yatskievych, Kay. 1998. Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana, vol. 4: Caesalpinianceae-Ericaceae. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis. .

Howard, Richard A. 1989. Flora of the Lesser Antilles: Leeward and Windward Islands. Vol. 5 Dicotyledoneae-Part 2 Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University. 604 pp.

Hunsberger, A. G. B. 2001. Invasive and banned plants of Miami-Dade County. U. of Fl. Extension. 3 pp.

Langeland, K. A./Burks, K. Craddock. eds. 1998. Identification and biology of non-native plants in Florida's natural areas. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida. 165 pp.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Weber, Ewald. 2003. Invasive plants of the World. CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. 548 pp.

Wester, Lyndon. 1992. Origin and distribution of adventive flowering plants in Hawai‘i. In: Stone, Charles P.; Smith, Clifford W. and Tunison, J. Timothy. Alien plant invasions in native ecosystems of Hawaii: Management and Research. University of Hawaii, Cooperative National Park Research Studies Unit, Honolulu. University of Hawaii Press. .