| Picrasma excelsa | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Simaroubaceae |
| Genus: | Picrasma |
| Species: | P. excelsa |
| Binomial name | |
| Picrasma excelsa (Sw.) Planch. | |
| Synonyms [2] | |
Aeschrion antillana(Eggers) Small | |
Picrasma excelsa is a species of Picrasma in the family Simaroubaceae. It is found in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela. It is threatened by habitat loss. [1]
Picrasma is a genus of flowering plants in the family Simaroubaceae, comprising six to nine species native to temperate to tropical regions of Asia, and tropical regions of the Americas. The species are shrubs and trees growing up to 20 m tall.
The Simaroubaceae are a small, mostly tropical, family in the order Sapindales. In recent decades, it has been subject to much taxonomic debate, with several small families being split off. A molecular phylogeny of the family was published in 2007, greatly clarifying relationships within the family. Together with chemical characteristics such as the occurrence of petroselinic acid in Picrasma in contrast to other members of the family such as Ailanthus this indicates the existence of a subgroup in the family with Picrasma, Holacantha, and Castela.
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is a country comprising the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean meet. It is east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the U.S. state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Haiti and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. The area of the Republic of Cuba is 110,860 square kilometres (42,800 sq mi). The island of Cuba is the largest island in Cuba and in the Caribbean, with an area of 105,006 square kilometres (40,543 sq mi), and the second-most populous after Hispaniola, with over 11 million inhabitants.
