Colubrina pedunculata

Colubrina pedunculata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rhamnaceae
Genus:	Colubrina
Species:	C. pedunculata
Binomial name
Colubrina pedunculata Baker f.[1]

Colubrina pedunculata is a shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. It is endemic to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the north-eastern Indian Ocean. Its specific epithet comes from the Latin pedunculatus, referring to the long and conspicuous peduncle of the inflorescence.^[2]

Colubrina pedunculata is a thorny, sometimes straggling, shrub or small tree. Its thorns are 5–20 mm long. Its leaves are alternate, narrowly elliptic, and deciduous after fruiting. It bears many yellow-green flowers, 5–6 mm across and clustered. The fruit is about 7 mm long.^[2]

Found only on Christmas Island, the plant is common on the northern and north-eastern terraces, in areas of poor, dry soil, among limestone pinnacles and scree, and in cliff edge thickets.^[2]

Since it is closely related to the widespread C. asiatica (L.) Brongn., the fruit of which is used as a fish toxin, and the leaves of which are used medicinally to treat skin diseases, similar chemical or pharmacological properties may be expected in C. pedunculata.^[2]

• Andrews, Charles W.; et al. (1900). Monograph of Christmas Island. London: British Museum (Natural History).
• "Colubrina pedunculata Baker f." Flora of Australia Online. Australian Biological Resources Study. 1993. Retrieved 2010-11-25.

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