Colubrina


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.

Description

The species are shrubs and small trees growing 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.

Selected species

Formerly placed here

Alphitonia excelsa Reissek ex Benth.

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 are used to produce a soft drink called mauby.