Tropical Plant Database - Plant Details

Bontia daphnoides is a much-branched shrub that grows up to 12 feet  tall. The leaves are narrowly oblong and tapered at both ends. Flowers are solitary or paired in the leaf axils, and are bilaterally symmetrical, 2-lipped, yellow in color, with purple spots outside. The inside of the flower tube is covered in long purplish hairs. Fruit are egg-shaped, yellow drupes, tapering at the apex.

(Staples, George, and Derral R. Herbst. A Tropical Garden Flora: Plants Cultivated in the Hawaiian Islands and Other Tropical Places. Honolulu, Hawai'i: Bishop Museum, 2005.)

Bontia daphnoides is occasionally grown as an ornamental or hedge plant in tropical areas.

Native to the West Indies, Bahamas, and coastal Venezuela.

We currently have 9 herbarium specimens for Bontia daphnoides in our collection. Click on any specimen below to view the herbarium sheet data.

• 016856 - collected by Tim Flynn in 1983
• 016857 - collected by Lynwood Hume in 1990
• 028346 - collected by Tim Flynn in 1999
• 029971 - collected by Melany H. Chapin in 2000
• 042307 - collected by Alex Lau in 2002
• 023333 - collected by Tim Flynn in 2006
• S078716 - collected by Tim Flynn in 2006
• 051652 - collected by Natalia Tangalin in 2007
• 067999 - collected by Alex Lau in 2014