Common Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

MADDER FAMILY (RUBIACEAE)
247. Tintillo, box-briar RMdia aculeata L.
A spiny shrub or small tree mostly of dry areas, Clobed corolla. A berry contains several rounded
characterized by : (1) long, slender, stiff, horizon- seeds in blue or black pul Flowering and with
tal brnnches with 4 rows of many aired short lat- green fruits nearly throuk
eral twigs 94-2 inches long, usun 7
R' the year.
ly ending in a The light brown wood-ts hard and heavy. Fishpair
of widely forking ray s ines x-s/g inch long; ing rods are made from the rigid stems in the
(2) leaves varying in s f ape f rom elliptic to nearly Virgin Islands.
sound to spoon-sha ed (spatulate), inchw The names irbol de navidad and Christmas-tree
long and 1/-1 incR broad, almost stalkless, op- refer to use of the tree as a Christmas decoration.
pos~te or clustered; (3) frapnt white flowers r/4 h blue dye has been obtained from the berries,
Inch long, with short tube and 5 broad flat corolla the source of the common names tintillo and inklobes
8/8 inch across, single and stalkless on twiga; berry. It is re orted that the fruits can be eaten
and (4) rounded berries %-1/2 inch in diameter and also have g een employed elsewhere in home
with calyx remaining at apex, green turning to remedies.
white at maturity.
Thickets and open forests, mostly in dry areas,
Deciduous shrub 5-10 feet high or small tree in the coastal, limestone, and lower mountain reto
20 feet tall and 3 inches in trunk diameter, with ions of Puerto Rico. Also in Mona, Icacos,
erect axis. and thin crown of many nearly hori- &ieques, St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John, Tortola,
zontal splny branches. The bark is p y and and Anegada.
snloothish or slightly fissured. Inner bark is light P~LIO FORESTS.-A uirre, Cambalache, Carite,
brown, slightly gritty and tasteless.
Gunjataca, Guinica., Ef usGn.
The leaves are opposite or often clustered 4 to- Ra~a~.--Southern Florida including Florida
gether at end of a short lateral twig, almost stalk- Ke s, Bermuda, and throughout West Indies from
less or with short petioles to 1/8 Inch long and Ba K mas and Cuba to Grenada and Barbados,
brown scales (stipules) '/le inch long at base. Trinidad and Tobago, and Bonaire and Curapo.
Blades are short-pointed at bnse, rounded at apex, Also in Mexico, Central America,, Colombia, and
not toothed on edges, a little thickened, shiny Venezuela.
green above, and beneath light green and slightly OTHER COMMON NABIEB.--BSC~~~~~~, camblbn,
shin .
solitary flowers appearing laternl along the
TK~
twigs actually are on very short spur or lateral
twigs about '/le inch long. The light green tubu-
lar base (hypanthium) about '/lo inch long en-
closes the inferior 2-celled ovary and bears a light,
pen calyx tube about '/le inch long with 5 nar-
row calyx lobes inch long. The white corolla
consists of a broad tube more than 4/s inch long
. and 5 elliptic lobes 9ie inch long, hairy at throat.
At apex of tube nre 6 stalkless light brown sb-
mens about '/le inch long, alternating with the
lobes. The pistil with inferior ovary has a whitish
style nearly r/4 inch long and bonder, 2-lobed
stigma. Flowers sometimes are small and with
BOTANICAL sa~o~~ars.-Randia mitie L., R.
aculeata var. mitis (L.) Griseb.