Colubrina Explained

Colubrina is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Rhamnaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Africa, the Americas, southern Asia, northern Australia, and the Indian Ocean islands.

Names

Common names include nakedwood, snakewood, greenheart and hogplum. The generic name is derived from the Latin word coluber, meaning "snake", and refers to the snake-like stems or stamens.^[1]

Description

The species are shrubs and small trees growing 1m-10mm (03feet-30feetm) tall, with simple ovate leaves. The flowers are small, greenish-white or yellowish; the fruit is a capsule containing three seeds.

Taxonomy

The genus is at least in part a wastebasket taxon, and revision will likely result in the renaming of a number of species to different genera in the future.^[2]

Selected species

• Colubrina angustior (M.C.Johnst.) G.L.Nesom (eastern Mexico)^[3]
• Colubrina arborescens (Mill.) Sarg.  - Greenheart (southern Florida, southern Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America)
• Colubrina articulata (Capuron) Figueiredo
• Colubrina asiatica (L.) Brongn.  - Asian nakedwood, ʻĀnapanapa kukuku (Hawaiian)^[4] (Indo-Pacific)
• Colubrina beccariana Warb. (Malaysia)
• Colubrina californica I.M.Johnst.  - Las Animas nakedwood
• Colubrina cubensis (Jacq.) Brongn.  - Cuban nakedwood (southern Florida, The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba)
• Colubrina decipiens (Baill.) Capuron
• Colubrina elliptica (Sw.) Brizicky & W.L.Stern  - mabi, soldierwood (Florida Keys, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, Venezuela)
• Colubrina ferruginosa Brongn.
• Colubrina glandulosa Perkins  - glandular nakedwood
• Colubrina greggii S.Watson – Sierra nakedwood
• Colubrina humbertii (H.Perrier) Capuron
• Colubrina nicholsonii Van Wyk & Schrire  - Pondo snakewood, Pondo weeping thorn, Afrikaans: Pondo-treurdoring^[5]
• Colubrina oppositifolia Brongn. ex H.Mann  - kauila (Hawaii)
• Colubrina pedunculata Baker f. (Christmas Island)
• Colubrina pubescens Kurz
• Colubrina stricta Engelm. ex M.C. Johnst.  - Comal nakedwood
• Colubrina texensis (Torr. & A.Gray) A.Gray  - snakewood or Texan hogplum (Texas, northern Mexico)
• Colubrina verrucosa (Urb.) M.C.Johnst.  - Urban's nakedwood^{[6] [7]}
• Colubrina yucatanensis (M.C.Johnst.) G.L.Nesom (Yucatán Peninsula)

Formerly placed here

• Alphitonia excelsa (Fenzl) Reissek ex Benth. (as C. excelsa Fenzl)^[7]

Ecology

Colubrina species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Bucculatrix kendalli which feeds exclusively on C. texensis. Colubrina asiatica, native to tropical Asia, eastern Africa and northern Australia, has become an invasive species in Florida.

Uses

In the Caribbean, the leaves and/or fruit and in some cases the bark of some species such as Colubrina elliptica (soldierwood) are used to produce a soft drink called mauby.

External links

• USDA Plants Profile: Colubrina
• Madagascar Flora catalogue: Colubrina
• Flora of China: Colubrina checklist
• Global Invasive Species Database: Colubrina asiatica
• Jepson Flora Project: Colubrina californica

Notes and References

1. Book: Quattrocchi, Umberto . CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names . I: A-C . 2000 . CRC Press . 978-0-8493-2675-2 . 588.
2. Web site: Colubrina Rich. ex Brongn. . P.B. . Phillipson . A Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar . eFloras.org . 2007-07-22 . 2009-10-01.
3. Taxonomic Notes on Colubrina (Rhamnaceae) . Guy L. . Nesom . Phytoneuron . 2013 . 4 . 1–21.
4. Book: Bornhorst, Heidi Leianuenue . Growing Native Hawaiian Plants: A How-to Guide for the Gardener . 2 . Bess Press . 2005 . 978-1-57306-207-7 . 52.
5. Web site: Protected Trees . 3 May 2013 . Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Republic of South Africa . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100705085122/http://www2.dwaf.gov.za/dwaf/cmsdocs/4116___poster%20protected%20trees.pdf . 2010-07-05 .
6. Web site: Colubrina Rich. ex Brongn. Subordinate Taxa . TROPICOS . Missouri Botanical Garden . 2009-10-01.
7. Web site: GRIN Species Records of Colubrina . Germplasm Resources Information Network . United States Department of Agriculture . 2010-10-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090120151642/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?2826 . 2009-01-20 . dead .