Alseis blackiana – Mameicillo
Family:
Native to:
Habitat:
Rubiaceae
Panama and Colombia.
Dense forest, understory tree, 10-900 meters above sea level. 12 meter tall tree.
Ecological value:
Understory tree. Most members of the Rubiaceae family are pollinated by insects. Bird pollination is rare, found only in several red-flowering species.
Material uses:
Wood, yellow-white, fine grained, heavy and tough. Not of high quality but used furniture, as plywood or in carpentry.
Edible uses:
No record on this species.
Medicinal use:
No record on this species.
Other details:
Belongs to the family Rubiaceae which consists of about 620 genera and13,500 species. Important genera include coffee. No staple foods are found in this family.
Research:
Jin Young Lee/Christine Facella
Sources:
“Alseis Blackiana Hemsl. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science.” n.d. Plants of the World Online. Accessed November 29, 2023. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:743041-1/general-information.
“Alseis Blackiana - Useful Tropical Plants.” n.d. Tropical.theferns.info. Accessed November 29, 2023. https://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Alseis+blackiana.
Image source: Steven Paton