Cordia | |
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Cordia boissieri in bloom | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Boraginales |
Family: | Boraginaceae |
Subfamily: | Cordioideae |
Genus: | Cordia L. |
Type species | |
Cordia myxa L. [1] | |
Species [2] | |
228; see text | |
Synonyms [2] | |
List
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Cordia is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It contains 228 species of shrubs and trees, that are found in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. [2] Many of the species are commonly called manjack, while bocote may refer to several Central American species in Spanish.
The generic name honours German botanist and pharmacist Valerius Cordus (1515–1544). [3] Like most other Boraginaceae, the majority have trichomes (hairs) on the leaves.
The taxonomy of Cordia is complex and controversial. Gottschling et al. (2005) say this is partly due to "extraordinarily high intraspecific variability" in some groups of species, making identification difficult, and partly due to new taxa having been "airily described on the basis of poorly preserved herbarium specimens". [4]
Cordia species are used as food plants by the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera species, such as Endoclita malabaricus , Bucculatrix caribbea , and Bucculatrix cordiaella . [11] The wild olive tortoise beetle ( Physonota alutacea ) feeds on C. boissieri , C. dentata , C. inermis , and C. macrostachya . [12]
Many members of this genus have fragrant, showy flowers and are popular in gardens, although they are not especially hardy. [13]
A number of the tropical species have edible fruits, known by a wide variety of names including clammy cherries, glue berries, sebesten, or snotty gobbles. In India, the fruits of local species are used as a vegetable, raw, cooked, or pickled, and are known by many names, including lasora in Hindi. One such species is fragrant manjack ( C. dichotoma ), which is called gunda or tenti dela in Hindi and lasura in Nepali. The fruit of the fragrant manjack is called phoà-pò·-chí (破布子), 樹子仔, or 樹子(Pe̍h-ōe-jī: chhiū-chí) in Taiwan where they are eaten pickled.
The white, gooey inner pulp of the fruits is traditionally used to make glue.[ citation needed ]
The wood of several Cordia species is commercially harvested. Ecuador laurel ( C. alliodora ), ziricote ( C. dodecandra ), Spanish elm ( C. gerascanthus ), and C. goeldiana are used to make furniture and doors in Central and South America. [13]
Ziricote [14] and bocote [15] are sometimes used as tonewoods for making the backs and sides of high-end acoustic guitars such as the Richard Thompson signature model from Lowden. [16] Similarly, drums are made from C. abyssinica , C. millenii , and C. platythyrsa due to the resonance of the wood. [17]
Cordia leaves can be dried and used to smoke marijuana with. [18]
Cordia alliodora is a species of flowering tree in the borage family, Boraginaceae, that is native to the American tropics. It is commonly known as Spanish elm, Ecuador laurel, cypre or salmwood. It can reach 35 m in height.
Cordia sebestena is a shrubby tree in the borage family, Boraginaceae, native to the American tropics. It ranges from southern Florida in the United States and the Bahamas, southwards throughout Central America and the Greater Antilles. Common names have included siricote or kopté (Mayan) in 19th Century northern Yucatán, scarlet cordia in Jamaica, and Geiger tree in Florida.
Cordia subcordata is a species of flowering tree in the borage family. It can be found growing in eastern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia and the Pacific Islands including Hawaii. The plant is known by a variety of names, including kou, beach cordia, sea trumpet, and kerosene wood, among others.
Varronia rupicola, synonym Cordia rupicola, commonly known as the Puerto Rico manjack, is a critically endangered species of flowering shrub in the borage family, Boraginaceae, that is native to the islands of Puerto Rico and Anegada.
Bourreria is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. Members of the genus are commonly known as strongbark or strongback. The generic name was chosen by Patrick Browne to honour German pharmacist Johann Ambrosius Beurer. The genus is native to the tropical Americas and to eastern Africa and Madagascar. American species are distributed from Mexico to northern South America, and in the Caribbean and Florida in the United States. The center of diversity is in the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico. The eastern African species range from Ethiopia to Mozambique and to Madagascar, the Comoro Islands, and Mauritius.
Cordia myxa, the Assyrian plum, is a mid-sized, deciduous tree in the borage family (Boraginaceae), native to Asia. It produces small, edible fruit and is found in warmer areas across Africa and Asia. Other common names in various languages include lasura, leswa,laveda, pidar, panugeri, naruvilli, geduri, sepistan, burgund dulu wanan '"Iriki Chettu (Telugu) and ntege.
Cordia boissieri is a white-flowered, evergreen shrub or small tree in the borage family (Boraginaceae). Its native range extends from southern Texas in the United States south to central Mexico. Common names include anacahuita, Mexican olive, white cordia, and Texas wild olive. It is named after the Swiss explorer and botanist Pierre Edmond Boissier.
Ehretia is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It contains 66 species native to the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Papuasia, and Australia. The generic name honors German botanical illustrator Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708–1770).
C. domestica may refer to:
Cordia dichotoma is a species of flowering tree in the borage family, Boraginaceae, that is native to the Indomalayan realm, northern Australia, and western Melanesia.
C. dichotoma may refer to:
Ehretia microphylla, synonym Carmona retusa, also known as the Fukien tea tree or Philippine tea tree, is a species of flowering plant in the borage family, Boraginaceae.
Cordia sinensis is a species of flowering tree in the borage family, Boraginaceae. The species’ range extend from South Africa, through East Africa, Madagascar, West Africa and the Middle East to the Indian Subcontinent and Eastern Indochina. There is also a disjunct native population in Senegal. The species has become naturalised in Eastern Australia. Common names include grey-leaved saucer berry, grey-leaved cordia, marer, mnya mate, mkamasi and tadana.
Cordia platythyrsa or West African cordia is a tall, flowering tree in the borage family (Boraginaceae), native to western and central Africa. Its soft wood is often used for furniture or other carpentry. It is considered "vulnerable" as it is threatened by logging.
Cordia sulcata is known commonly as moral, white manjack, or mucilage manjack. It is a tree that can be found throughout the Caribbean islands from Cuba to Trinidad.
Cordia lutea, known as yellow cordia or in Spanish muyuyo, is a shrubby plant in the borage family (Boraginaceae), native to the Galápagos Islands, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and the Marquesas Islands in Polynesia. Common in the arid lowlands of the Galápagos, its relatively large yellow flowers make it easy to identify.
Coldenia, named after C. Colden, is a monotypic genus of flowering plants traditionally included in the borage family, Boraginaceae sensu lato. It was assigned to the subfamily Ehretioideae, but molecular data revealed it to be more closely related to the genus Cordia, so that other authors placed in Cordioideae. Subsequently, it was placed in its own family, Coldeniaceae, within the Boraginales order, by the Boraginales Working Group.
Cordia dodecandra is a small tree in the borage family (Boraginaceae) native to southern Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Cordia salicifolia, also called Cordia ecalyculata and chá de bugre, is a species of evergreen flowering tree in the borage family, Boraginaceae, that occurs mainly in Brazil and is used as a medicinal plant. Its red fruit, which resembles a coffee bean and contains caffeine, is roasted and brewed as a coffee substitute.