{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2024}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Starr 061222-2598 Colubrina asiatica.jpg |image_caption = ''Colubrina asiatica'' |taxon = Colubrina |authority = Rich. ex Brongn.<ref name="GRIN">{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?2826 |title=Genus: ''Colubrina'' Rich. ex Brongn. |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |date=2007-10-05 |accessdate=2009-04-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506233716/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?2826 |archive-date=2009-05-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |type_species = ''Colubrina ferruginosa'' |type_species_authority = Brongn.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/NameDetails.aspx?nameid=40012509 |title=Colubrina Rich. ex Brongn. |work=TROPICOS |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |accessdate=2009-10-01}}</ref> |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text |synonyms = ''Barcena'' <small>Dugès</small><br /> ''Cormonema'' <small>Reissek ex Endl.</small><br /> ''Hybosperma'' <small>Urb.</small><br /> ''Macrorhamnus'' <small>Baill.</small> }}
'''''Colubrina''''' is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Rhamnaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Africa, the Americas, southern Asia, northern Australia, and the Indian Ocean islands.
== Names == Common names include '''nakedwood''', '''snakewood''', '''greenheart''' and '''hogplum'''. The generic name is derived from the Latin word ''coluber'', meaning "snake", and refers to the snake-like stems or stamens.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=esMPU5DHEGgC |first=Umberto |last=Quattrocchi |title=CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names |volume=I: A-C |year=2000 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-8493-2675-2 |page=588}}</ref>
== Description == The species are shrubs and small trees growing {{convert|1|-|10|m|ft}} tall, with simple ovate leaves. The flowers are small, greenish-white or yellowish; the fruit is a capsule containing three seeds.
== Taxonomy == The genus is at least in part a wastebasket taxon, and revision will likely result in the renaming of a number of species to different genera in the future.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=12&taxon_id=107722 |first=P.B. |last=Phillipson |title=Colubrina Rich. ex Brongn. |work=A Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar |publisher=eFloras.org |date=2007-07-22 |accessdate=2009-10-01}}</ref>
=== Selected species === *''Colubrina angustior'' <small>(M.C.Johnst.) G.L.Nesom</small> (eastern Mexico)<ref name="Nesom">{{cite journal |url=http://www.phytoneuron.net/2013Phytoneuron/04PhytoN-Colubrina.pdf |first=Guy L. |last=Nesom |title=Taxonomic Notes on ''Colubrina'' (Rhamnaceae) |journal=Phytoneuron |year=2013 |volume=4 |pages=1–21}}</ref> *''Colubrina arborescens'' <small>(Mill.) Sarg.<!--1911--></small> – Greenheart (southern Florida, southern Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America) *''Colubrina articulata'' <small>(Capuron) Figueiredo<!--1995--></small> *''Colubrina asiatica'' <small>(L.) Brongn.<!--1826--></small> – Asian nakedwood, ''{{okina}}Ānapanapa kukuku'' (Hawaiian)<ref>{{cite book |title=Growing Native Hawaiian Plants: A How-to Guide for the Gardener |first=Heidi Leianuenue |last=Bornhorst |edition=2 |publisher=Bess Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-57306-207-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-OESYDpr6wC |page=52}}</ref> (Indo-Pacific) *''Colubrina beccariana'' <small>Warb.</small> (Malaysia) *''Colubrina californica'' <small>I.M.Johnst.<!--1924--></small> – Las Animas nakedwood *''Colubrina cubensis'' <small>(Jacq.) Brongn.<!--1826--></small> – Cuban nakedwood (southern Florida, The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba) *''Colubrina decipiens'' <small>(Baill.) Capuron<!--1966--></small> *''Colubrina elliptica'' <small>(Sw.) Brizicky & W.L.Stern<!--1958--></small> – mabi, soldierwood (Florida Keys, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, Venezuela) *''Colubrina ferruginosa'' <small>Brongn.<!--1826--></small> *''Colubrina glandulosa'' <small>Perkins<!--1911--></small> – glandular nakedwood *''Colubrina greggii'' <small>S.Watson<!--1882--></small> – Sierra nakedwood *''Colubrina humbertii'' <small>(H.Perrier) Capuron<!--1966--></small> *''Colubrina nicholsonii'' <small>Van Wyk & Schrire</small> – Pondo snakewood, Pondo weeping thorn, {{langx|af|Pondo-treurdoring}}<ref name="dwaf">{{cite web |url=http://www2.dwaf.gov.za/dwaf/cmsdocs/4116___poster%20protected%20trees.pdf |title=Protected Trees |date=3 May 2013 |publisher=Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Republic of South Africa |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705085122/http://www2.dwaf.gov.za/dwaf/cmsdocs/4116___poster%20protected%20trees.pdf |archivedate=2010-07-05 }}</ref> *''Colubrina oppositifolia'' <small>Brongn. ex H.Mann<!--1867--></small> – ''kauila'' (Hawaii) *''Colubrina pedunculata'' <small>Baker f.<!--1900--></small> (Christmas Island) *''Colubrina pubescens'' <small>Kurz<!--1872--></small> *''Colubrina stricta'' <small>Engelm. ex M.C.Johnst.<!--1969--></small> – Comal nakedwood *''Colubrina texensis'' <small>(Torr. & A.Gray) A.Gray<!--1850--></small> – snakewood or Texan hogplum (Texas, northern Mexico) *''Colubrina verrucosa'' <small>(Urb.) M.C.Johnst.<!--1963--></small> – Urban's nakedwood<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/NameSubordinateTaxa.aspx?nameid=40012509 |title=Colubrina Rich. ex Brongn. Subordinate Taxa |work=TROPICOS |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |accessdate=2009-10-01}}</ref><ref name="GRINSpecies">{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?2826 |title=GRIN Species Records of ''Colubrina'' |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |accessdate=2010-10-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120151642/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?2826 |archive-date=2009-01-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ITIS">{{ITIS |id=28519 |taxon=''Colubrina'' |accessdate=2010-01-25}}</ref> *''Colubrina yucatanensis'' <small>(M.C.Johnst.) G.L.Nesom</small> (Yucatán Peninsula)<ref name="Nesom" />
===Formerly placed here=== * ''Alphitonia excelsa'' <small>(Fenzl) Reissek ex Benth.</small> (as ''C. excelsa'' <small>Fenzl</small>)<ref name="GRINSpecies"/>
==Ecology== ''Colubrina'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including ''Bucculatrix kendalli'' which feeds exclusively on ''C. texensis''. ''Colubrina asiatica'', native to tropical Asia, eastern Africa and northern Australia, has become an invasive species in Florida.
==Uses== In the Caribbean, the leaves and/or fruit and in some cases the bark of some species such as ''Colubrina elliptica'' (soldierwood) are used to produce a soft drink called mauby.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commonscat}} {{Wikispecies}} *[http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=371&fr=1&sts= Global Invasive Species Database: ''Colubrina asiatica''] *[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Colubrina+californica Jepson Flora Project: ''Colubrina californica'']
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Category:Colubrina Category:Rhamnaceae genera Category:Taxa named by Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart Category:Taxa named by Louis Claude Richard