Cordia dichotoma G.Forst., Boraginaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: clammy cherry, fragrant manjack, Indian cherry, sebesten

Habit:  tree

Description:  "A tree to 10 m high or more; leaves ovate to oblong acute to acuminate, acute to subcordate at base, glabrous or sparsely puberulent, up to 20 cm long by 10 cm wide, shallow-toothed in distal part, or repand, or entire; petioles 1-5 cm long; flowers small, whitish, about 8 mm long, corolla 4-6-lobed; calyx truncate; fruit ellipsoid, 1.5-2 cm long, with a thin creamy or pink skin and pulp; pyrene 1-seeded" (Stone, 1970; p. 498).

Habitat/ecology:  (no habitat/ecology info known by PIER)

Propagation:  Seed, probably spread by birds.

Native range:  Malaysia-Polynesia (Stone, 1970; p. 498).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (US) Northern Mariana Islands	Saipan Island	native	Raulerson, L. (2006) (p. 58)
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced cultivated	Stone, Benjamin C. (1970) (p. 498)
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1979) (p. 229)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Herbarium Pacificum Staff (1996) (p. 3) Voucher cited: E. Funk s.n. (BISH) Naturalized
New Caledonia New Caledonia	New Caledonia Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	Papua New Guinea (eastern New Guinea Island)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Northern Territory	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)
Cambodia Cambodia	Cambodia (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)
Japan Ryukyu Islands	Ryukyu Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)
Taiwan Taiwan	Taiwan Island	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)
Thailand Thailand	Thailand (Kingdom of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2007)

Comments:  Reported as possibly an invasive plant in the Hawaiian Islands per Staples et al., 2000.

Additional information:  Information from the World Agroforestry Centre's AgroForestryTree Database.

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

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

References:

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1979. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian dicotyledonae. Micronesica 15:1-295.

Herbarium Pacificum Staff. 1996. New Hawaiian pest plant records for 1995. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1995. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 46:3-8.

Raulerson, L. 2006. Checklist of Plants of the Mariana Islands. University of Guam Herbarium Contribution 40:1-69. .

Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral/Imada, Clyde T. 2000. Survey of invasive or potentially invasive cultivated plants in Hawai‘i. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers No. 65. 35 pp.

Stone, Benjamin C. 1970. The flora of Guam. Micronesica 6:1-659.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2007. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2005. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.