Amyris elemifera | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Sapindales |
Family: | Rutaceae |
Genus: | Amyris |
Species: | A. elemifera |
Binomial name | |
Amyris elemifera | |
Amyris elemifera is an evergreen species of flowering plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae. Its common names include sea torchwood, smooth torchwood, [3] candlewood, sea amyris, tea, cuabilla, and bois chandelle. [4] It is native to Florida in the United States, the Caribbean, and the Central American countries of Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. It is also known from northern South America. [3] The species name elemifera is from the Greek, meaning "resin bearing". [5]
Sea torchwood attains a maximum height of 4 to 12 metres (13 to 39 ft ). [4] (Up to 50 feet high in ideal conditions) The smooth, gray bark matures into a rough and furrowed surface with plates. The wood is close-grained. [6] The species has a vertical branching habit. It has a weak taproot, but the lateral roots are stiff and strong. The yellow-gray twigs turn gray with age. The hanging foliage is fragrant. The compound leaves are opposite or sub-opposite. A 3 cm (1.2 in) petiole supports three to five oval or lance-shaped leaflets. [5]
Sea torchwood tolerates full sun to light shade. In Florida, it often grows along the edges of hammocks. [6] It tolerates many soil types, including soil over rock and coastal sand. [4] It grows in well-drained sites, [6] but it tolerates 750 to 2,000 mm (29.53 to 78.74 in) of yearly precipitation in Puerto Rico. [4] Young plants linger in the understory until gaps allow further growth. [4]
This species has been used for fences, fuel, and honey production. [4] The fine-grained, fragrant wood is resistant to dry wood termites. It is too scarce for common use. [4] The plant has yielded taxaline, an oxazole with antibiotic activity against Mycobacterium . [4] The fragrant, globose drupe is black and contains a single brown seed. The tiny, fragrant white flowers and fruit attract wildlife such as birds. [5] In Florida, Sea Torchwood is a food source for the endangered Schaus' Swallowtail (Papilio aristodemus ponceanus). [7] [4] Contrary to popular belief and unlike the implication of its name, Sea Torchwood possesses minimal tolerance to salinity.
Liriodendron tulipifera—known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tulipwood, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddletree, lynn-tree, hickory-poplar, and yellow-poplar—is the North American representative of the two-species genus Liriodendron, and the tallest eastern hardwood. It is native to eastern North America from Southern Ontario and possibly southern Quebec to west to Illinois, and east to southwestern Massachusetts, then south to central Florida and Louisiana. It can grow to more than 50 m (160 ft) in virgin cove forests of the Appalachian Mountains, often with no limbs until it reaches 25–30 m (80–100 ft) in height, making it a very valuable timber tree. The tallest individual at the present time (2021) is one called the Fork Ridge Tulip Tree at a secret location in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Repeated measurements by laser and tape-drop have shown it to be 191 feet 10 inches (58.47 m) in height. This is the tallest known individual tree in eastern North America.
Diospyros virginiana is a persimmon species commonly called the American persimmon, common persimmon, eastern persimmon, simmon, possumwood, possum apples, or sugar plum. It ranges from southern Connecticut to Florida, and west to Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa. The tree grows wild but has been cultivated for its fruit and wood since prehistoric times by Native Americans.
Pistacia chinensis, the Chinese pistache, is a small to medium-sized tree in the genus Pistacia in the cashew family Anacardiaceae, native to central and western China. This species is planted as a street tree in temperate areas worldwide due to its attractive fruit and autumn foliage.
Hesperocyparis bakeri, previously known Cupressus bakeri, with the common names Baker cypress, Modoc cypress, or Siskiyou cypress, is a rare species of western cypress tree endemic to a small area across far northern California and extreme southwestern Oregon, in the western United States.
Lindera benzoin is a shrub in the laurel family. It is native to eastern North America, ranging from Maine and New York to Ontario in the north, and to Kansas, Texas, and northern Florida in the center and south. Within its native range it is a relatively common plant where it grows in the understory in moist, rich woods, especially those with exposed limestone.
Tilia americana is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to Cherry County, Nebraska. It is the sole representative of its genus in the Western Hemisphere, assuming T. caroliniana is treated as a subspecies or local ecotype of T. americana. Common names include American basswood and American linden.
Acer leucoderme is a deciduous tree native to the southeastern United States from North Carolina south to northwest Florida and west to eastern Texas. It lives in the understory in moist, rocky soils on river banks, ravines, woods, and cliffs. Although generally an uncommon tree, it is most often found in the inner coastal plain and Piedmont regions of Georgia.
Cladrastis kentukea, the Kentucky yellowwood or American yellowwood, is a species of Cladrastis native to the Southeastern United States, with a restricted range from western North Carolina west to eastern Oklahoma, and from southern Missouri and Indiana south to central Alabama. The tree is sometimes also called Virgilia.
Carya floridana the scrub hickory, is a small tree native to the Southeast United States, where it is endemic to central Florida.
Chionanthus virginicus is a tree native to the savannas and lowlands of the northeastern and southeastern United States, from Massachusetts south to Florida, and west to Oklahoma and Texas.
Pongamia pinnata is a species of tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, native to eastern and tropical Asia, Australia, and the Pacific islands. It is the sole species in genus Pongamia. It is often known by the synonym Millettia pinnata. Its common names include Indian beech and Pongame oiltree.
Rosa carolina, commonly known as the Carolina rose, pasture rose, or prairie rose, is a perennial shrub in the rose family native to eastern North America. It can be found in nearly all US states and Canadian provinces east of the Great Plains. It is common throughout its range and can be found in a wide variety of open habitats, from thickets and open woods to roadsides and along railroads.
Amyris is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek word αμυρων, which means "intensely scented" and refers to the strong odor of the resin. Members of the genus are commonly known as torchwoods because of their highly flammable wood.
Quercus pagoda, the cherrybark oak, is one of the most highly valued red oaks in the southern United States. It is larger and better formed than southern red oak and commonly grows on more moist sites. Its strong wood and straight form make it an excellent timber tree. Many wildlife species use its acorns as food, and cherrybark oak makes a fine shade tree. Cherrybark oak was formerly considered to be a subspecies of southern red oak, Quercus falcata, subsp pagodifolia.
Papilio aristodemus, the Schaus' swallowtail or island swallowtail, is a species of American butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It is found in southern Florida in the United States and throughout the West Indies. It is named in honor of William Schaus.
Piscidia piscipula, commonly named Florida fishpoison tree, Jamaican dogwood, or fishfuddle, is a medium-sized, deciduous, tropical tree in the Fabaceae family. It is native to the Greater Antilles, extreme southern Florida and the Bahamas, and the coastal region from Panama northward to the vicinity of Ocampo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The native Taino of the West Indies discovered that extracts from the tree could sedate fish, allowing them to be caught by hand. This practice led to the tree's common names—fishpoison and fishfuddle. The tree has medicinal value as an analgesic and sedative.
Bursera fagaroides is a species of flowering plant in the genus Bursera known by the common names torchwood copal and fragrant bursera. It is widespread across much of Mexico from Sonora to Oaxaca, and its range extends just into Arizona in the United States, although some sources suggest that it may now be extirpated in Arizona.
Symplocos tinctoria is a deciduous or evergreen shrub or tree. It is recognized by pith of twigs chambered; by foliage not notably aromatic when bruised, leaves finely hairy beneath. Shrubs or trees to 17 m tall by 36 cm diameter at breast height. The largest first-year twigs are under 3 mm across, terminal buds with acute tip, scales ciliate. Leaves are 7–15 cm long, margin entire or occasionally some teeth on the apical half, with a sweet taste that may be faint in old leaves. It is conspicuous when in flower; flowers opening before new leaves develop, fragrant, in clusters from axils of previous year's leaves or from just above the leaf scars if the leaves have fallen; the petals are creamy yellow to yellow, with one pistil. Fruits nearly cylindrical to ellipsoid drupes 8–12 mm long, with thin pulp and a hard stone containing one seed; the tip usually retaining parts of the sepals. Foliage is relished by browsing wildlife. A yellow dye may be obtained from bark and leaves. It flowers March to May.
Prunus caroliniana, known as the Carolina laurelcherry, Carolina cherry laurel, Carolina cherry, or Cherry laurel, is a small evergreen flowering tree native to the lowlands of Southeastern United States, from North Carolina south to Florida and westward to central Texas. The species also has escaped into the wild in a few places in California.
Forestiera segregata is a species of flowering plant in the olive family known by the common names Florida privet, Florida swampprivet, and southern privet. It is native to the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, including Puerto Rico and the Cayman Islands, the Lesser Antilles, including Anguilla, and Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina in the United States.