Jamaican nettletree facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Jamaican nettletree |
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In Brasília | |
Scientific classification | |
Genus: |
Trema
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Species: |
micrantha
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Synonyms | |
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Trema micrantha, the Jamaican nettletree or capulin, is a plant species native to warmer parts of the Western Hemisphere. It has been reported from Mexico, Central America, Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, the Virgin Islands, Guyana, Venezuela, Suriname, Peru, Paraguay, Jamaica, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and southern Florida. In Florida, it has been collected in 10 of the state's southern counties.
Description
Trema micrantha is a shrub or small tree up to 10 m tall. Leaves are egg-shaped, up to 9 cm long, green on top but covered with white, woolly pubescence underneath. Flowers are greenish-white. Fruits are yellow to bright reddish-range, up to 4 mm in diameter.
Uses
Following the recent local extirpation of slow-growing xalama in San Pablito, Mexico due to unsustainable harvesting driven by tourism, the Otomi people now use Trema micrantha bark strips as a raw material for making handmade amate paper.
See also
In Spanish: Trema micrantha para niños