Sideroxylon persimile (Hemsl.) T.D.Penn., Sapotaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 8 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Bumelia buxifolia misapplied, Hawaiian Islands; Bumelia persimilis Hemsl.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: bastard cherry, bully, bumelia, porcupine tree

Spanish: alfiler, barba de tigre, corpus blanca, corpus espina, espino blanco, espino mono, huistempisque, ispundio, limoncillo, zapotillo de pena

Habit:  tree

Description:  "Large trees, round-topped to 20 m tall, trunk vertically fluted, 1 m thick, bark rough, sometimes armed with painful and irritating thorns (1-3 cm long), with obvious sticky white sap, and stems occasionally bearing red hairs.  Leaves dark green, glossy ovate, entire (3-4 cm long).  Flowers are sweetly fragrant, greenish.  Fruit is round to subglobose, about 1 cm, and green turning black or deep blue"  (Starr, Martz and Loope, 2002; pp. 24-25).

"Tree 15-60 feet tall; branches often spiny.  Leaves alternate (not clustered); blades broadly elliptic, 2-5 inches x 1-1.5 inches, dark green, glossy.  Inflorescence sessile, dense clusters on branches.  Flowers tiny, sweetly fragrant; corolla greenish yellow, lobes spreading, apex 3-parted; stamens projecting; ovary hairy.  Fruit ellipsoid-ovoid, 0.5-0.75 inches long, blue-black or dark purple, apex rounded or acute.  Seed 1, ellipsoid, 0.3-0.6 inches long"  (Staples & Herbst, 2005; p. 522).

Habitat/ecology:  "Grows in moist forests or along watercourses in seasonally dry forests."  Occasionally planted as a street tree and for reforestation  (Staples & Herbst, 2005; p. 522).

Propagation:  Seed.  "Apparently the fleshy fruits are dispersed by birds" (Staples, Imada & Herbst, 2003; p. 18).

Native range:  "Native from Mexico across Central America through northern South America"  (Staples & Herbst, 2005; p. 522).

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	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (2002) (pp. 24-25) Voucher cited: O. Degener 21990 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (2002) (pp. 24-25) East Maui. Vouchers cited: D. Herbst 820 (BISH), R. Hobdy 2729 (BISH), Starr & Martz 980220-1 (BISH), Starr & Martz 000427-1 (BISH)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. (2002) (pp. 24-25) Voucher cited: F.B.H. Brown 1246 (BISH 69020a), M.C. Neal s.n. (BISH 419662, 419663), M.C. Neal s.n. (BISH 69021), F.R. Fosberg 27116 (BISH), F. Saito 10 (BISH), N. Matayoshi s.n. (BISH 580943)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Staples, George W./Imada, Clyde T./Herbst, Derral R. (2003) (p. 18) Voucher cited: C. Imada et al. 2001-46 (BISH)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Colombia Colombia	Colombia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Costa Rica Costa Rica	Costa Rica (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
El Salvador El Salvador	El Salvador (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Guatemala Guatemala	Guatemala (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Nicaragua Nicaragua	Nicaragua (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Panama Panama	Panama (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Report (PDF format) from US Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Haleakala Field Station, Hawaii "Plants of Hawaii

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

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

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

References:

Missouri Botanical Garden. 2011. TROPICOS. Online searchable database.

Staples, George W./Herbst, Derral R. 2005. A tropical garden flora: plants cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and other tropical places. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 908 pp.

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.

Staples, George W./Imada, Clyde T./Herbst, Derral R. 2003. New Hawaiian plant records for 2001. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2001-2002. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 74:7-21.

Starr, Forest/Martz, Kim/Loope, Lloyd L. 2002. New plant records from the Hawaiian archipelago. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucius G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2000. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 69:16-27.

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