blue star fern

 USVI Native Plant

Phlebodium aureum

The USVI is home to many interesting species of ferns. They are among the first plants to colonize newly cleared areas, such as the roadside bank shown below. 

The blue star fern is found in the moist forests of the Virgin Islands. Its leaves are highly dissected (but not compound) and can grow up to 1 meter in length. Like many ferns, its stem (a rhizome) is usually hidden just below the surface of the ground. The sori are found in 1-2 rows along either side of the vein on the back of fertile leaves. It is usually found on the ground at mid elevations, but is an epiphyte (growing on tree trunks) at higher elevations.

St. Thomas, USVI, Little North Side Quarter

water lemon

 

USVI native plant

Passiflora foetida

a guest blog by LeAnn Horsford

Passiflora foetida L., also commonly known as running pop, love-in-a-mist, wild water lemon, and stinking passionflower, is a vine that is native to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. It has a round and hairy stem with large, hairy leaves that have three to five lobes and produce cyanide. When leaves and stems are crushed, an unpleasant odor is emitted hence the nickname “stinking passionflower”. P. foetida produces white flowers with purple streaks. 

Fruits follow fertile flowers, and the fruits are surrounded by bracts. Young fruits are green, toxic, and produce cyanide. Ripe fruits are red or orange in color and contain black seeds surrounded by pulp. This plant can grow up to 6 meters tall and to grow, it requires full sunlight, lots of water, and fertile soil. It is commonly found on roadsides, in disturbed or waste sites, forests, woodlands, plantation crops, etc.

References

NParks: Passiflora foetida. National Parks Board. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.nparks.gov.sg/florafaunaweb/flora/1/4/1466  

Weeds of Australia - fact sheet. Passiflora foetida. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://keyserver.lucidcentral.org/weeds/data/media/Html/passiflora_foetida.htm  

tyre palm

 USVI native plant

Coccothrinax alta

a guest blog by Briyanna Owens

Coccothrinax alta is a native plant of both the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. It is commonly known as teyer plam, broom palm or silver palm and has other common names as well. Typically it grows in moist to dry forests at lower elevations and on rocky soils from the sea level up to about 400 meters of altitude. Due to this and its tolerant resistance to saltiness, it can also withstand the salty winds and is planted in gardens close to the sea. It is a species with relatively fast growth that quickly distinguishes it from other species. Trees are usually 2-6 meters tall, but some can reach up to 15 meters. Its palmate leaves grow between 60-90 centimeters long and 70-110 centimeters broad. The leaves have a silky, silvery white coating beneath them. The tree is extremely resistant to high winds and can come through hurricanes almost unscathed.

Traditionally in the Virgin Islands, its leaves have been used for woodworking and crafts activities such as making roof thatch, bags, ropes, baskets, brooms, hats, and other common handicrafts. Historically, webbing from the leaf sheath was used to strain cassava. Another major component that contributes to the uses of the Coccothrinax alta are its fruits. When its fruits are visible and ripe, they appear a dark purplish-black color and have been highly valued and traditionally used as a fabric dye. 

Teyer palm fruit, UVI St. Thomas campus, Feb 2021, (c) Alice Stanford

Works Cited 

• Coccothrinax alta. Monaco Nature Encyclopedia, 10 Feb. 2018, https://www.monaconatureencyclopedia.com/coccothrinax-alta/?lang=en
• Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine - University of the Virgin Islands. Native moist forests plants. Google Sites  https://sites.google.com/a/myuvi.net/ccam/vi-plants-at-a-glance/useful-plants-in-vi-habitats/native-moist-forests-plants. 

pink cedar

USVI Native Plant

Tabebuia heterophylla

Tabebuia heterophylla, also known as pink cedar, pink trumpet, white cedar (and a variety of other common names) is a native tree to the Caribbean Islands. It is particularly common in dry, coastal woodlands and moist forests and grows up to 18 meters tall. Its species is known to grow very fast and has bell-shaped flowers that bloom throughout the spring and summer. It is commonly harvested for local use and exported for a variety of uses. It is well suited for ornamental purposes such as shading parking lots, sidewalks along the street, and gardens. Its wood is widely used as building material for furniture, flooring, cabinetwork, and boat building. It has also been used for a variety of medicinal purposes.

The leaves of Tabebuia heterophylla are oppositely arranged and palmately compound. It has pinnate leaf venation with leaves that are made up of 5 or fewer leaflets. Its trumpet-shaped flowers range from bright pink to a white/cream color with yellow throats.

Works Cited 

• Fern, Ken. Tabebuia heterophylla. Useful Tropical Plants, 13 June 2019, tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Tabebuia+heterophylla 
• Pasiecznik, Nick. Tabebuia heterophylla (pink trumpet tree). Invasive Species Compendium, Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, 28 Feb. 2008, www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/52567
• Richardson, Sean. VI medicinal plants at a glance. University of the Virgin Islands Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, sites.google.com/a/myuvi.net/ccam/vi-plants-at-a-glance/vi-medicinal-plants-at-a-glance
• Watson, Dennis G., and Edward F. Gilman. Tabebuia heterophylla: pink trumpet tree. EDIS New Publications RSS, Environmental Horticulture, 29 Mar. 2019, edis.ifas.ufl.edu/st616

lignum vitae

 

Virgin Islands Native Plant

Guest Blog by Carissa Moses

Guaiacum officinale

Guaiacum officinale on the University of the Virgin Islands' St. Thomas campus (12 Apr 2021).

Guaiacum officinale, also commonly known as lignum vitae, is a small, slow-growing evergreen tree that can reach up to 30 feet high. Its common name means in Latin “wood of life.” The wood of G. officinale has been used for medicinal purposes as well as building ship propeller drives and carving other items. 

Guaiacum officinale is a dicot plant species that has 5 petals, which its colors ranges in shades from blue to purple and can sometimes appear to be white. Each flower has about 10 stamens, which have white filaments and either white or yellow anthers. The leaves are pinnately compound, thick, rounded, and waxy. Its fruits have an olive green color and are flattened and heart-shaped and appears to be brown and rounded when matured. Each fruit has two chambers that contains either one or two fleshy, red or black seeds that is dehiscent once ripe. The seeds are also drought tolerant. 

References 

• http://geographicconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/lignum-vitae-final1.pdf
• https://stthomassource.com/content/2020/05/30/encouraging-signs-of-life-returning/
• https://stjohnhistoricalsociety.org/vol-ix-no-7-march-2008-lignum-vitae-beauty-strength-and-the-fallibility-of-medicine-by-eleanor-gibney/
• https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=GUOF

marron bacora

Guest blog entry by Carissa Moses

USVI Native Plant

Solanum conocarpum

Solanum conocarpum on the University of the Virgin Islands-St. Thomas Campus, St. Thomas, USVI, 9 Apr 2021

Solanum conocarpum, commonly known as marron bacora, is a Virgin Islands native, flowering shrub plant once found throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands. The plant is found in the dry, evergreen scrub formation of the Virgin Islands, which is the tropical dry deciduous forest. Solanum conocarpum has been recently classified as an endangered species. Approximately 92.5% of the species’ 200 individual are on private residential property, and measures have been taken to protect the plant.

Solanum conocarpum falls in the class of Magnoliopsida, a type of dicot plant. The flowers of S. conocarpum have 5 light violet petals that are green at the centermost of the flower and arranged in a cyme inflorescence with yellow stamens. Its fruit is a teardrop-shaped berry that is dark green with lighter green perpendicular stripes, which will turn to a golden yellow color when matured.

Solanum conocarpum on the University of the Virgin Islands-St. Thomas Campus, St. Thomas, USVI, 9 Apr 2021

 

References

https://www.eaglehill.us/programs/journals/neon/images/cana-36.pdf

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/plants/Virgin_Islands_plants/natural_history_solanum.html

https://stthomassource.com/content/2021/02/25/can-a-victim-of-development-morph-into-ecological-survivor/

 

limber caper

USVI Native Plant

Cynophalla flexuosa 

Cynophalla flexuosa at Brewers Bay on St. Thomas, USVI, June 17, 2020.

This sprawling woody plant is common in the coastal forest of St. Thomas.

 Its leaves vary in shape, but its flowers are rather distinctive. If you are observing the forest along the beach during the morning hours, you may notice the long filaments of the flower sticking out several centimeters beyond the greenish petals. Like other members of the Capparaceae family, the ovary is also suspended far from the petals on a long stalk (gynophore).