Cayman Islands Wild Trees and Shrubs - identification

 Candlewood - Amyris elemifera, RUTACEAE.
OPPOSITE Compound leaves with 3 leaflets, aromatic when crushed.
Cayman Islands native, Endangered shrub / small tree.
Proctor 2012: p.494, Fig.180, Pl.45; Wild Trees p.166/217.Grand Cayman, Ann Stafford, Sept. 9, 2012.

Natives for your Neighbourhood 

 Ironwood - Chionanthus caymanensis, OLEACEAE.
OPPOSITE leaves.
Cayman Islands endemic, Endangered tree,
Proctor 2012: p.595, Fig.221, Pl.58; Wild Trees p.144/220.
Grand Cayman, Ann Stafford, Feb. 1, 2004.

Ironwood - Chionanthus caymanensis, OLEACEAE, Cayman Islands endemic tree, Endangered, and
Old George - Hohenbergia caymanensis (Giant Bromeliad), Critically Endangered,
before Hurricane Ivan (2004).
Photo: Ann Stafford, Aug.23, 2002

Ironwood tree - Chionanthus caymanensis with 
Old George - Hohenbergia caymanensis (Giant Bromeliad) and 
Silver Thatch Palm - Coccothrinax proctorii, 
3 Cayman endemics in a Liguinea Circle garden.
Photo: Ann Stafford, Feb.21, 2013

Ironwood - Chionanthus caymanensis, Family: OLEACEAE, 
Cayman Islands endemic tree, Endangered.
Photos: Ann Stafford, 2005

Clam Cherry (Smooth Manjack) - Cordia laevigata, Family: BORAGINACEAE, 
Critically Endangered, native to the Caribbean and Central America.
Photo: Ann Stafford, Jan.20, 2009, Grand Cayman. It also occurs on Cayman Brac, but not Little Cayman. The fruits are very sticky.

 Clamcherry (Smooth Manjack) - Cordia laevigata, Family: BORAGINACEAE. 
Critically Endangered: Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac.
The leaves cluster at the end of the branchlets.
Image: Ann Stafford, Grand Cayman, Oct. 21, 2007.
Native to Belize; Cayman Islands; Costa Rica; Cuba; Dominica; Dominican Republic; El Salvador; Guatemala; Haiti; Honduras; Jamaica; Martinique; Nicaragua; Panama; Puerto Rico; Saint Lucia; Trinidad and Tobago; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.

 Bastard Cherry - Ehretia tinifolia, BORAGINACEAE.
ALTERNATE leaves.
Grand Cayman native, Critically Endangered.
Range: Greater Antilles, except Puerto Rico, the Swan Islands, Mexico and Honduras.
Proctor 2012: p.563, Fig.210, Pl.53.
Grand Cayman, Ann Stafford, Sept. 14, 2006

 McCoy's Villa tree, Bastard Cherry - Ehretia tinifolia, Critically Endangered, BORAGINACEAE.
This tree , covered in creamy white flowers, is thought to be over 100 years old.   
Greater Antilles (except Puerto Rico), Swan Islands, Mexico and Honduras.
Photo: Ann Stafford, South Church St. Grand Cayman, Aug. 4, 2010
 

 Bastard Cherry - Ehretia tinifolia, McCoy's Villa tree
Critically Endangered, BORAGINACEAE.
This tree is thought to be over 100 years old, South Church St. Grand Cayman
 Greater Antilles (except Puerto Rico), Swan Islands, Mexico and Honduras.
Photo: Ann Stafford, Feb.21, 2013

Cayman Gardens

Pepperleaf Sweetwood - Licaria triandra, LAURACEAE
ALTERNATE leaves.
Grand Cayman native, Critically Endangered.
Range: Florida, Greater and Lesser Antilles
Proctor 2012: p.227 Pl.11,  Wild Trees p.154
George Town, Grand Cayman, Ann Stafford, Feb.7, 2004.

Cayman Herbarium 

For the identification of wild plants in the Cayman Islands: 

native and naturalized, scanned Virtual Herbarium specimens, mostly trees and shrubs. 

Caption includes  

FLORA of the Cayman Islands by George R. Proctor 2012: page #, Fig.# Plate# 

(Proctor 2012 p. Fig. Pl);  

Wild Trees in the Cayman Islands by Fred Burton, illustrated by Penny Clifford: page # /bark page # (Wild Trees p. / ). 

Native or naturalized: 

All Cayman Islands native plants are tropical, but not all tropical plants, such as many used in landscaping, are native to the Cayman Islands. A plant that is native to southern Florida may, or may not, be native to the Cayman Islands. A Cayman Islands native plant species is one that occurs naturally in the Cayman Islands without direct or indirect human actions. Some plants (and animals) are native to only one or two of the three Cayman Islands. 

Common names: 

Different countries have different common names, sometimes more than one for the same plant, or one name may refer to several different plants. Several trees around the world are called Ironwood, but Cayman’s culturally important Ironwood trees are only found in the Cayman Islands - Chionanthus caymanensis . 
Scientific names, avoid confusion of which plant is being referred to. Even though there are many plants, many don’t have Cayman common names – especially if they didn’t have a use. Some common names reflect how the plants were encountered, for example Shake Hand trees. In Cayman’s forests and dry rocky woodlands there are tall slender trees, some very old and extremely slow-growing, seemingly growing out of cliff-rock (karst limestone), trees such as Ironwood and Silver Thatch (both endemic), Bastard Ironwood, Bitter Plum, Candlewood, Smoke Wood, Pompero, Wild Fig, Cherry, Bastard Cherry, Strawberry, Bastard Strawberry, Spanish Elm, Cedar, Mahogany, Bastard Mahogany, Fustic, Bastard Fustic, and shrubs Duppy Bush and Rosemary. If any of these plants occur in the United States, they would be found in south Florida and the Florida Keys, where they may be endangered. The US common names are almost always different.

CaymANNature Flora
CaymANNature Flora_2
lots of photos
Cayman Herbarium
and Virtual Herbarium images

Cayman Islands Butterflies

Cayman Islands Butterfly Families

Milkweed butterflies - DANAIDAE, Brush-footed Butterflies - NYMPHALIDAE,
Long-wing butterflies - HELICONIIDAE,  Hairstreaks and Blue butterflies - LYCAENIDAE,
White butterflies and Sulphurs - PIERIDAE, Swallowtail butterflies - PAPILIONIDAE, Skippers - HESPERIIDAE
Ann Stafford Jan. 2006

Plants needed by some common Cayman butterflies – 
larval (caterpillar) food plant/host plants:

if the plants disappear, so will the butterflies.

Larval Food-plants and Nectar Flowers are listed on pages 148 to 157 of  
Butterflies of the Cayman Islands book.

Some Cayman Butterflies and their larval food plants.
P. Ann van B. Stafford



CaymANNature Butterflies, Moths and their Plants 
 

Butterflies of the Cayman Islands book launch 

at the National Trust for the Cayman Islands
L to R: Gina Ebanks-Petrie, Ann Stafford, Letitia Askew, Frank Balderamos, 

Richard Askew, Mat DaCosta-Cottam, Feb. 23, 2009 
The book is available locally at the
National Trust Visitor Centre, Dart Family Park, South Church St, Grand Cayman - 
US$30.00 or CI$24.00  

Butterflies of the Cayman Islands book launch at the National Trust for the Cayman Islands
L to R: Janice Brown, Richard Askew, Denise Bodden, Ann Stafford, Frank Balderamos,
Feb. 23, 2009. Photo: Letitia Askew

Monarch, Queen and Soldiers butterflies -
Danaus plexippus, D. gilippus and D. eresimus showing the differences.
Grand Cayman, P. Ann van B. Stafford Jan. 2006  

Queen or Soldier larvae, Danaus sp. on Red Top (Scarlet Milkweed) -
Asclepias curassavica, their larval food plant.
Grand Cayman, photo: P. Ann van B. Stafford, Dec. 24, 2006.

Queen - Danaus gilippus, Family: DANAIDAE,
nectaring on Red Top (Scarlet Milkweed) - Asclepias curassavica.
Photo: P.  Ann van B. Stafford, Grand Cayman, Nov. 21, 2004.

Soldier - Danaus eresimus tethys, Family: DANAIDAE,
nectaring on Velvet Plant - Gynura aurantiaca.
Grand Cayman. Photo: Ann Stafford, Nov. 25, 2002.

  

Nature Tours

NATURE TOURS Grand Cayman in air-conditioned car, flexible pick-up points. Explore different vegetation zones and habitats with Ann Stafford, knowledgeable guide and Cayman native plant expert. See culturally significant plants & places, birds, butterflies & more.

Butterflies Unique to Cayman

The Cayman Islands hosts  five endemic subspecies of butterflies:

Cayman Brown Leaf  Butterfly Memphis verticordia danielana (GC and LC)
Cayman Pygmy Blue Brephidium exilis thompsoni (GC only)
Cayman Lucas’s  Blue  Hemiargus ammon erembis (GC only)
Cayman Julia, Flambeau Dryas iulia zoe (all three islands)
Cayman Swallowtail  Heraclides  andraemon taylori (GC only)

Cayman Islands Department of the Environment




 

Cayman Islands WILDLIFE EXPLORERS GUIDE

Cayman Islands Birds

 A Photographic Guide to the BIRDS of the CAYMAN ISLANDS 

by Patricia E. Bradley and Yves-Jacques Rey-Millet, 2013

 Cayman Islands Wildlife Explorers Guide

  Cayman Islands WILDLIFE EXPLORERS GUIDE

Bird Life pp 8 &9

 

Cayman Islands Plants and Butterflies

Cayman Julia (female) - Dryas iulia zoe HELICONIIDAE,
Cayman Islands endemic subspecies.
Photo: R.R. Askew, Jan.18, 2008

CaymANNature Butterflies, Moths and their Plants 

Cayman Islands butterflies and day-flying moths and their larval food plants. 

Books with descriptions of butterflies and their plants: 

Butterflies of the Cayman Islands by R.R. Askew and P.A. van B. Stafford, 2008  

  Butterflies of the Cayman Islands 

and 

Flora of the Cayman Islands by George R. Proctor, Royal Botanic Gardens, KEW 2012.
Flora of the Cayman Islands 

 

Cayman Islands WILDLIFE EXPLORERS GUIDE

PLANTS and BUTTERFLIES,  Ann Stafford  pp 12 & 13 

Cayman Islands Wildlife Explorers Guide 

Grand Cayman NATURE TOURS 

Wash Wood trees - Jacquinia keyensis - Endangered

Cayman Islands Wild Trees and Shrubs

 Rare trees gated off as bypass clearance starts   Jan.19, 2012  

 http://www.caymannewsservice.com/science-and-nature/2012/01/19/rare-trees-gated-bypass-clearance-starts 

 Posted on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 08:19 in Science and Nature

Having committed to protecting important and significant wildlife that maybe at risk in its road plans Dart said Wednesday it had saved some rare bushes that were identified on the planned new by-pass road to West Bay. Officials from the firm revealed in a release that some rare Washwood trees were being gated off and protected from the road development. During last summer Dart had worked with local environmentalist, Ann Stafford, and a concerted effort was made to preserve rare and endangered species. The Discovery of the Wash Wood Trees (Jacquinia keyensis), between Yacht Drive and the eventual intersection of Esterley Tibbetts Highway Extension with Batabano Road led to steps to protect them.

Wash Wood (Cayman) - Jacquinia keyensis

Cayman Islands Wild Trees and Shrubs

Wash Wood (Cayman), called Joe Wood in the US), Jacquinia keyensis, Endangered, 

Family: THEOPHRASTACEAE.
Very salt-tolerant, an excellent hurricane survivor species,
Salt Creek dyke roads, Grand Cayman.
Photo: Ann Stafford, Oct.29, 2004
(after Hurricane Ivan, Sept.12-13, 2004)
Flora of the Cayman Islands by George R. Proctor 2012, page 349, Plate 25.

CaymANNature Flora album 

 Cayman Islands FLORA images (arranged in scientific name order A - Z) including Dendrophylax fawcettii (Ghost Orchid), Exostema caribaeum, Neoregnellia cubensis, Rochefortia acanthophora, Tournefortia astrotricha, Zanthoxylum sp, now identified as Z. caribaeum, found on the Mastic Trail, Grand Cayman.

Full descriptions can be found in the book Flora of the Cayman Islands by George R. Proctor, Royal Botanic Gardens, KEW 2012, which covers Ferns, Zamia, Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons. The book includes Cayman Islands endemics and near-neighbor endemics (Jamaica and Cuba).

Conservation

Conservation

In the end, we will conserve only what we love,
We will love only what we understand,
We will understand only what we are taught.’

Baba Dioum, Senegalese conservationist

FLORA of the CAYMAN ISLANDS by George R. Proctor, 2nd. Edition 2012

 

FLORA of the CAYMAN ISLANDS by George R. Proctor, 2nd. Edition 2012,

published by Royal Botanic Gardens, KEW, was launched on Oct. 22, 2012.

The book is available for purchase, price CI$30, at the National Trust for the Cayman Islands and local bookstores.
The Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac) support 415 native taxa in a land area little over 100 square miles, 29 of which are uniquely Caymanian.
Accessible and informative, this field guide satisfies the needs of the professional botanist, while providing the non-expert and eco-tourist with an attractive introduction to the unique endemic flora of the Cayman Islands.
724 pages | 400 color plates, 250 line drawings | 6 x 9 1/5 | © 2012

Contents:

Editors' Note on the Second Edition

Acknowledgements
    Notes on the Illustrations and Photographs
    Acknowledgements for the Second Edition
Plan of the Flora
Introduction
    Geography and Phytogeography
    Floristic Background
    History of Botanical Collections

Description of the Flora
    Pteridophyta
    Spermatophyta
        Gymnospermae
        Angiospermae
            Monocotlydones
            Dicotlydones

Appendix I: Additions to the Cayman Flora
Appendix II: New Taxa in this Volume
Glossary
Bibliography
Index of Common Names
Index of Botanical Names
Genera whose Classification in Modern Molecular-Based Plant Taxonomy Differs from that Used in this Flora

The book is also available from:

Kewbooks.com

The University of Chicago Press books 

Plant Science Bulletin 59(3) 2013
Review of the FLORA of the CAYMAN ISLANDS 2nd. Edition 2012 by George R. Proctor, p.138-142, by -Lee B. Kass, L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. lbk7@cornell.edu

 Dr. George R. Proctor, author of FLORA of the CAYMAN ISLANDS, 
1984 and 2nd. Edition 2012, published by Kew, 
by Mahogany tree - Swietenia mahagoni - Endangered, in West Bay.
Photo: P. Ann van B. Stafford, Grand Cayman, July 7, 2002

Dr.Proctor, age 82, on the Mastic Trail, Grand Cayman.
Photo: P. Ann van B. Stafford, April 6, 2004 

George Richardson Proctor
July 13, 1920 to Oct. 12, 2015 

Institute of Jamaica mourns the passing of Dr. George R. Proctor

The Institute of Jamaica (IOJ) regrets the passing of Dr. George R. Proctor on October 12, 2015 and extends condolences to his children, family members, friends and colleagues. Dr. George R. Proctor’s association with the Institute began many years ago through its division devoted to science, the Natural History Museum of Jamaica.
Dr. Proctor’s official relationship with the (IOJ) started in 1952 when he was employed in the post of Botanist. Dr. Proctor spent the next 28 years at the IOJ, responsible for housing the national collections of preserved plants. Over this period Dr. Proctor became an authority on not only Jamaican flora but also the plants of the wider Caribbean. He is responsible for the development of the IOJ’s comprehensive Caribbean collection which includes approximately 1,500 type specimens. He was also head of the Natural History Division between 1972 and 1980. Dr. Proctor resigned from his duties at the Institute in 1980. He continued active work in the field of botany in the Dominican Republic and subsequently Puerto Rico and returned to the Institute in 1999 in the capacity of Consultant Botanist. He remained in this position until 2006.
Dr. Proctor was instrumental in the acquisition and establishment of the Mason River Field Station, Clarendon in 1963.  This site is now a national protected area, game sanctuary and Ramsar site. In  the late 1950s he also sat on the National Flower Committee and contributed significantly to the selection of the Lignum Vitae as Jamaica’s National Flower.
Dr. Proctor has published over 110 technical papers and books including “Ferns of Jamaica”, “Flora of the Cayman Islands” (2 editions), “Ferns of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Island”, “Pteridophytea”, vol. 2 of “Flora of the Lesser Antilles”.
Dr. Proctor has had 31 species of plants named in his honour and has served as President of the Natural History Society of Jamaica and the Jamaica Society of Scientists and Technologists. Some of his Jamaican honours include Gold Musgrave Medal (1976), the Institute of Jamaica Centenary Medal (1980), the Order of Distinction from the Government of Jamaica (1976), an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of the West Indies in 2004.
The IOJ and the NHMJ in particular have  been honoured by his service.  He has served Jamaica well. May his soul rest in peace.

Obituary: George Richardson Proctor (1920-2015) CaymanCompass Oct. 30, 2015

 

Snake Withe - Cissus verticillata

 Snake Withe - Cissus verticillata (synonym C. sicyoides), Vulnerable, Family: VITACEAE, glabrous subwoody vine, showing tendrils and leaf margins with minute teeth.  
Grand Cayman, June 1, 2005. It also occurs on Little Cayman & Cayman Brac.
Distribution: Florida, West Indies and continental tropical America, climbing on trees, rocks and fences.

Flowers and immature fruits. The berries are black when ripe. Grand Cayman Sept.3, 2006. 

Photos: Ann Stafford 
 Snake Withe is likely larval food plant of Enyo lugubris, Eumorpha vitis, E. fasciatus & E. labruscae. subwoody vine that climbs on trees, rocks and fences.

FLORA of the CAYMAN ISLANDS by George R. Proctor, 2012, page 473,  Plate 41.


CaymANNature Flora 

1938 Oxford University Biological Expedition to the Cayman Islands 

Clam Cherry - Cordia laevigata

Clam Cherry - Cordia laevigata, Critically Endangered, Family: BORAGINACEAE, native to the Caribbean and Central America. (Another common name is Smooth Manjack). 
Photo: Ann Stafford, Jan.20, 2009, Grand Cayman. 
It also occurs on Cayman Brac, but not Little Cayman. The fruits are very sticky.
FLORA of the CAYMAN ISLANDS by George R. Proctor, 2012, page 568, Plate 54.
Cayman Nature Tours

Cayman's Big Figs

Wild Fig - Ficus aurea, Vulnerable, MORACEAE
Range: Cayman Islands, Florida, Bahamas, Greater Antilles except Puerto Rico, also in the Swan Islands.
Proctor's FLORA of the CAYMAN ISLANDS 2012, p.240 and Plate 13.
Photo: Ann Stafford, Grand Cayman, May 22, 2009.
The Cayman Islands have another species of Big Fig trees - also called Wild Fig (or Barren Fig) - Ficus citrifolia, Endangered.

Cayman Casearia - Casearia staffordiae

Cayman Casearia - Casearia staffordiae, Grand Cayman endemic shrub, Family: SALICACEAE, Critically Endangered, first found by P. Ann van B. Stafford in 2001.

FLORA of the CAYMAN ISLANDS by George R. Proctor, 2012, page 316, Plates 19 and 20.

CaymANNature - Ann Stafford

Casearia staffordiae IUCN Red List

 This species is unique to Grand Cayman and is currently known mainly from the Mastic Forest region. 

An isolated individual has been recorded 4 km to the east and may represent the presence of a separate group disjunct from the Mastic Forest location.

A undescribed plant seen on the Mastic Trail by Ann Stafford on June 22, 2001, many years later identified as Cayman Casearia - Casearia staffordiae. Ann was looking for Rat Wood - Erythroxylum rotundifolium, another shrub with small leaves.

 Mastic Trail by the big Yellow Mastic tree - Sideroxylon foetidissimum, June 22, 2001.

Rolin Chisholm on a trail in the Forest Glen area, North Side, with a piece of what was later called Cayman Casearia - Casearia staffordiae, June 23, 2002.

Rolin Chisholm, Mars van Liefde, Janice Blumenthal and Lois Blumenthalon a trail in the Forest Glen area, North Side, June 23, 2002.

 

Shrub subsequently called Cayman Casearia - Casearia staffordiae, Forest Glen area trail,

June 23, 2002.

 Dr. George R. Proctor, Caribbean botanist, author of the Flora of the Cayman Islands,
collecting a specimen of Casearia staffordiae (before the species was identified).
Photo: Ann Stafford,  Mastic Trail, Grand Cayman. April 8, 2003.

Termite trail on Casearia staffordiae, Mastic Trail, April 8, 2003.

Carla Reid photographs Cayman Casearia, between Forest Glen and the Mastic Trail, Oct. 22, 2003.

Cayman Casearia, between Forest Glen and the Mastic Trail, Oct. 22, 2013.

Cayman Casearia - Casearia staffordiae, Family: SALICACEAE
Critically endangered Grand Cayman endemic species,
on Mastic Trail, it was bearing fruits, so at last it could be identified, 3.5 years after it was first noticed. Photo: Ann Stafford, Jan. 9, 2005.
Flora of the Cayman Islands by George R. Proctor, 2nd. Edition 2012, p.316, Plates 19 & 20

Cayman Casearia - Casearia staffordiae, SALICACEAE.
ALTERNATE leaves with pellucid dots; lax, arching or drooping elongate branches,
fruit a globose capsule.
Grand Cayman endemic, Critically Endangered shrub,
Proctor 2012: p.316, Plates 19 & 20. CI Red List p.56.
Mastic Trail, Ann Stafford, Jan.9, 2005.

Casearia staffordiae for propagation, Jan. 14, 2006. 
 
Manuel Dequito with branchlet of Casearia staffordiae for propagation, Jan. 14, 2006.

Casearia staffordiae, SALICACEAE.
ALTERNATE leaves with pellucid dots; lax, arching or drooping elongate branches
flowers - sepals, but no petals.
 Mastic Trail, Ann Stafford, Aug. 3, 2006 (not Aug.2). 

 James Fair, Carla Reid and Ann Stafford, Mastic Trail, Aug. 3, 2006, photo by Hannah Reid.

Carla Reid, Hannah Reid and James Fair by the big Yellow Mastic tree (Sideroxylon foetidissimum) on the Mastic Trail, Aug. 3, 2006.

Threatened Plants of the Cayman Islands - THE RED LIST
by Frederic J. Burton 2008 

Casearia staffordiae - Family: SALICACEAE, The Red List p.56
Needs - Ex situ propagation, seed banking, awareness, legal protection and habitat protection.
It has not been successfully propagated.

 This book is the first Red List assessment of the entire Cayman Islands flora, covering all 415 species and varieties considered truly native to the Cayman Islands.

 

Manuel Dequito and Michelle air-layering Casearia staffordiae on the Mastic Trail, Feb. 4, 2009. 

FLORA of the CAYMAN ISLANDS

by George R. Proctor 2012