Tuesday 27 August 2013

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.


 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




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