Ocotea

{{Short description|Genus of trees}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2012}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Ocotea foetens 1322.jpg | image_caption = ''O. foetens'' on the highlands of Madeira Island | taxon = Ocotea | authority = Aubl. | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = Over 520, see List of ''Ocotea'' species | synonyms = *''Aperiphracta'' {{small|Nees ex Meisn.}} *''Balanopsis'' {{small|Raf.}} *''Borbonia'' {{small|Adans., nom. illeg.}} *''Calycodaphne'' {{small|Bojer}} *''Camphoromoea'' {{small|Nees}} *''Ceramocarpium'' {{small|Meisn. ex Nees, pro syn.}} *''Ceramophora'' {{small|Nees ex Meisn., not validly publ.}} *''Gymnobalanus'' {{small|Nees & Mart.}} *''Keiria'' {{small|Bowdich}} *''Leptodaphne'' {{small|Nees}} *''Linharia'' {{small|Arruda}} *''Nemodaphne'' {{small|Meisn.}} *''Oreodaphne'' {{small|Nees & Mart.}} *''Petalanthera'' {{small|Nees}} *''Povedadaphne'' {{small|W.C.Burger}} *''Senneberia'' {{small|Neck., opus utique oppr.}} *''Strychnodaphne'' {{small|Nees & Mart.}} *''Teleiandra'' {{small|Nees & Meyen}} | synonyms_ref =<ref name=powo>{{cite POWO |id = 325868-2 |title=''Ocotea'' Aubl. |date=2025 |access-date=21 May 2025}}</ref> }}

'''''Ocotea''''' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Lauraceae. Many are evergreen trees with lauroid leaves.

There are over 520 species currently accepted within the genus,<ref name="325868-2" >{{cite POWO |id = 325868-2 |title=''Ocotea'' Aubl. |date=2021 |access-date=6 September 2021}}</ref> distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas (around 300 species)<ref name=Novon>{{cite journal |jstor=3392056 |title=''Ocotea ikonyokpe'', a new species of Lauraceae from Cameroon |journal=Novon |volume=6 |issue=4 |year=1996 |author=Henk van der Werff |pages=460–462 |doi=10.2307/3392056}}</ref> including the Caribbean and West Indies,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=834865 |title=ITIS, Integrated Taxonomic Information System}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Flora of Puerto Rico and Adjacent Islands: a Systematic Synopsis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ISlUCW8p5GcC&pg=PA62 |author1=Alain H. Liogier |author2=Luis F. Martorell |isbn=978-0-8477-0369-2 |year=2000| publisher=La Editorial, UPR }}</ref> but also with some species in Africa, Madagascar<ref name=Novon/> and the Mascarene Islands.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KHjvMAAACAAJ |title=''Ocotea'' (Lauraceae) in the Mascarene Islands |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office | access-date=May 19, 2012 |author=Kostermans, Achmad Jahja (GH) |author2=Marais, W. |year=1979}}</ref> One species (''O. foetens'') is native to the Macaronesia (in Canary Islands and Madeira).<ref>{{cite iucn |author=da Silva Menezes de Sequeira, M.P. |author2=Beech, E. |date=2017 |title=''Ocotea foetens'' |volume=2017 |article-number=e.T30328A81868200 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T30328A81868200.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref> The genus is suspected to be paraphyletic.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Resolved phylogenetic relationships in the ''Ocotea'' complex (Supraocotea) facilitate phylogenetic classification and studies of character evolution |year=2021 |last1=Penagos Zuluaga |first1=Juan C. |last2=Werff |first2=Henk |last3=Park |first3=Brian |last4=Eaton |first4=Deren A. R. |last5=Comita |first5=Liza S. |last6=Queenborough |first6=Simon A. |last7=Donoghue |first7=Michael J. |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=108 |issue=4 |pages=664–679 |doi=10.1002/ajb2.1632 |pmid=33818757 |s2cid=233026796|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Description== thumb|left|''O. tenera'' leaves and fruit They are trees or shrubs, occasionally with adventitious roots (''O. hartshorniana'', ''O. insularis''). Leaves simple, alternate, rarely opposite or whorled.<ref name="ots.ac.cr">{{cite web |url=http://www.ots.ac.cr/florulapv/documents/Lauraceae.pdf?V_COLLECTIONSOrder=Sorter_HABITAT&V_COLLECTIONSDir=DESC |title=Flora Digital De Palo Verde |author=José González |year=2007 |access-date=June 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924062427/http://www.ots.ac.cr/florulapv/documents/Lauraceae.pdf?V_COLLECTIONSOrder=Sorter_HABITAT&V_COLLECTIONSDir=DESC |archive-date=September 24, 2015 }}</ref> The leaves are lauroid, they are commonly dark green glossy with sometimes brown on the underside and fragrant oil cells.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://es.scribd.com/doc/80809763/Manual-Dendrologico |title=Manual dendrológico de las principales especies de interés comercial actual y potencial de la zona del Alto Huallaga |author=Andrés Castillo Q. |language=es |publisher=Cámara Nacional Forestal |year=2010}}</ref>

The African and Madagascan species all have bisexual flowers (possessing both male and female parts), whereas many of the American species have flowers that are unisexual (either male or female).<ref name=Novon/> The apetalous flowers are in small panicles.{{citation needed|date = February 2017}}

The fruits are globose or oblong berries, 3–5 cm in length, hard and fleshy and at the junction of the peduncle part with the fruit covered by a cup-shaped, occasionally flat, cupule,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Henk van der Werff |year=2002 |title=A synopsis of ''Ocotea'' (Lauraceae) in Central America and Southern Mexico |journal=Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden |volume=89 |issue=3 |pages=429–451 |jstor=3298602 |doi=10.2307/3298602|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/16387 }}</ref> giving them an appearance similar to an acorn. The fruit is dark green, gradually darkening with maturity. The cupule at the base of the berry, can be more brightly colored. The fruit has a single seed wrapped in a hard coat and can be slightly lignified.{{citation needed|date = February 2017}}

==Names== The genus has no standard common name. Names often refer to the aroma of the wood, which can be strong and not always pleasant. Sweetwood is usually applied only to this genus,<ref>{{cite PLANTS |symbol=OCOTE |taxon= Ocotea |access-date=April 1, 2008}}</ref> although many names are also applied to this genus and other genera: *Stinkwood can refer to several unrelated trees that have bad-smelling wood. ''Ocotea bullata'' is called black stinkwood or true stinkwood, and ''Ocotea foetens'' is also called stinkwood. *Camphorwood is usually ''Cinnamomum camphora'' a close relative of ''Ocotea'' species. *Rosewood (Peruvian rosewood, ''O. cernua'') is normally ''Dalbergia'' or related members of the family Fabaceae.

The common names of some species refer to their similarity to other Lauraceae such as ''Sassafras'' (Brazilian sassafras: ''O. odorifera'') or ''Laurus'' (Cape laurel: ''O. bullata'', Sword laurel: ''O. floribunda'', Guaika laurel: ''O. puberula'', etc.).

==Distribution and habitat== [[File:Afromontane forest canopy - giant Black Stinkwood tree - SA.JPG|thumb|right|''Ocotea bullata'' on South African Afromontane forests]] Most species of ''Ocotea'' are distributed across the tropical Americas, from Mexico to Northern Argentina including the West Indies. Species are also found in eastern Africa from South Africa to Ethiopia, in Gabon and Republic of the Congo in Central Africa, and on Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands. One species, ''Ocotea foetens'', is native to the Canary Islands and Madeira in the North Atlantic.<ref name="325868-2"/>

''Ocotea'' species are distributed in subtropical and tropical regions, often at higher elevations. They are characteristic plants of many tropical and subtropical montane forests such as the Araucaria moist forests, Yungas, and Talamancan montane forests in the Americas, Afromontane forests including the Knysna-Amatole montane forests in Africa, and Laurisilva in the Macaronesian islands. In Madagascar and Brazil they also occur in lowland forests.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265914777 |title=Prodromus einer Monographie der Gattung Ocotea Aubl. (Lauraceae), sensu lato |last=Rohwer |first=Jens |date=1986}}</ref>

==Ecology== Most relatively small fruit species are of great environmental importance because they are the food of many endemic birds and mammals, especially in Islands, and premontane and montane forests.<ref name="ots.ac.cr"/> The leaves of ''Ocotea'' species are the food source for the caterpillars of several species of endemic Lepidoptera, including several species of ''Memphis''.<ref name=OGI>{{cite web |url=http://www.ontariogenomics.ca/outreach/BOLD10 |publisher=Ontario Genomics Institute |title=About ''Memphis mora'' |author=Daniel H. Janzen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926093553/http://www.ontariogenomics.ca/outreach/BOLD10 |archive-date=September 26, 2011 }}</ref> Some ''Memphis'' caterpillars feed solely on the leaves of one species of ''Ocotea''; for example ''M. mora'' feeds only on ''O. cernua'', and ''M. boisduvali'' feeds only on ''O. veraguensis''<ref name=OGI/>

Seed distribution of some ''Ocotea'' species is performed by frugivorous birds such as toucans, the three-wattled bellbird (family Cotingidae), quetzal<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.bowdoin.edu/faculty/n/nwheelwr/dissemination/GeneticStructure.pdf |journal=Oecologia |year=1995 |author1=J. Phil Gibson |author2=Nathaniel T. Wheelwright |name-list-style=amp |title=Genetic structure in a population of a tropical tree ''Ocotea tenera'' (Lauraceae): influence of avian seed dispersal |volume=103 |issue=1 |pages=49–54 |jstor=4221000 |doi=10.1007/BF00328424 |pmid=28306944 |bibcode=1995Oecol.103...49G |s2cid=30945748 |access-date=May 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923194138/http://www.bowdoin.edu/faculty/n/nwheelwr/dissemination/GeneticStructure.pdf |archive-date=September 23, 2015 }}</ref> and Cape parrot.<ref name=plantz>{{cite web |url=http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantnop/ocoteabull.htm |title=''Ocotea bullata'' |publisher=PlantZAfrica.com |date=November 22, 2002 |access-date=May 20, 2012}}</ref> ''Ocotea'' fruit is also consumed by several Columbiformes such as ''Columba trocaz'',<ref>{{cite journal |title=Diet of the endemic Madeira laurel pigeon and fruit resource availability: a study using microhistological analyses |author1=Paulo Oliveira |author2=Patricia Marrero |author3=Manuel Nogales |name-list-style=amp |journal=The Condor |volume=104 |issue=4 |pages=811–822 |year=2002 |jstor=1370703 |doi=10.1650/0010-5422(2002)104[0811:doteml]2.0.co;2 |hdl=10261/22475|s2cid=55469944 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Delegorgue's pigeon,<ref name=plantz/> Bolle's pigeon (''Columba bollii''),<ref name=Europa>{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/management/habitats/pdf/9360_Macaronesian_laurel_forests.pdf |title=MANAGEMENT of Natura 2000 habitats * Macaronesian laurel forests (''Laurus'', ''Ocotea'') 9360: Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora}}</ref> African wood pigeon,<ref>{{cite book |author=David Gibbs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r__Tx8QKQfMC&pg=PA191 |title=Pigeons and Doves: a Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World |publisher=A&C Black |year=2010 |access-date=May 20, 2012 |isbn=978-1-4081-3556-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/columbidae/columba_arquatrix.htm |title=Biodiversity Explorer: The web of life in southern Africa |series=''Columba arquatrix'' (African olive-pigeon, Rameron pigeon) |publisher=Biodiversityexplorer.org |access-date=May 20, 2012 |archive-date=January 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115023019/http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/columbidae/columba_arquatrix.htm }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://easternarc.or.tz/downloads/Uluguru/WCST-UMBCP-reports/Forest%20users%20in%20the%20ulugurus.pdf |title=Assessment Of Forest User Groups And Their Relationship To The Condition Of The Natural Forests In The Uluguru Mountains |author1=Steven T. Mwihomeke |author2=Innocent J.E. Zilihona |author3=William C. Hamisy |author4=Dismas Mwaseba |publisher=Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST) |date=n.d. |access-date=May 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227173039/http://easternarc.or.tz/downloads/Uluguru/WCST-UMBCP-reports/Forest%20users%20in%20the%20ulugurus.pdf |archive-date=February 27, 2012 }}</ref> and American doves.<ref>{{cite web |title=Medicinal Plants Originating In The Andean High Plateau And Central Valleys Region Of Bolivia, Ecuador And Peru |url=http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/import/58569_medicinal_final.pdf |year=2006 |author=Mahabir P. Gupta |access-date=May 19, 2012 |archive-date=September 10, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910150534/http://www.unido.org/fileadmin/import/58569_medicinal_final.pdf }}</ref>

Most of the African tree species are ancient paleoendemic species,<ref name=rsqb>{{cite journal |author1=Ben H. Warren |author2=Julie A. Hawkins |name-list-style=amp |title=The distribution of species diversity across a flora's component lineages: dating the Cape's 'relicts' |doi=10.1098/rspb.2006.3560 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |year=2006 |volume=273 |issue=1598 |pages=2149–2158 |pmid=16901834 |pmc=1635518}}</ref> which in ancient times were widely distributed on the continent.<ref name=Europa /><ref name=rsqb /> This is not the case in the Americas: 89 species have been collected in Venezuela alone.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scielo.org.ve/pdf/abv/v32n1/art10.pdf |author=Hernán E. Ferrer-Pereira |publisher=Herbario Nacional de Venezuela |title=Lauraceae at the Herbario Nacional de Venezuela (VEN) |year=2009}}</ref>

Species of ''Ocotea'' can be attacked by various rot-inducing root pathogens, including ''Loweporus inflexibilis'', ''Phellinus apiahynus''<ref>{{Cite journal |author1=P. Renvall |author2=T. Niemelä |name-list-style=amp |year=1993 |title=''Ocotea usambarensis'' and its fungal decayers in natural stands |journal=Bulletin du Jardin Botanique National de Belgique |volume=62 |issue=1/4 |pages=403–414 |jstor=3668286 |doi=10.2307/3668286}}</ref> and ''Phytophthora cinnamomi''.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=W. A. Lübbe |author2=G. P. Mostert |name-list-style=amp |year=1991 |title=Rate of ''Ocotea bullata'' decline in association with ''Phytophtora cinnamomi'' at three study sites in the Southern Cape indigenous forests |journal=South African Forestry Journal |volume=159 |issue=1 |pages=17–24 |doi=10.1080/00382167.1991.9630390|bibcode=1991SAfFJ.159...17L }}</ref>

Some ''Ocotea'' species are used as nesting sites by ants, which may live in leaf pockets or in hollowed-out stems. The ants patrol their host plants more frequently in response to disturbance or to the appearance of insect pests such as grasshoppers.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Jean Stout |year=1979 |title=An association of an ant, a mealy bug, and an understory tree from a Costa Rican rain forest |journal=Biotropica |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=309–311 |jstor=2387924 |doi=10.2307/2387924|bibcode=1979Biotr..11..309S }}</ref>

==Uses== [[File:Ocotea quixos 1.JPG|thumb|right|Dried ishpingo (''O. quixos'') cupules can be used as spice.]] ''Ocotea'' produce essential oils, which are rich in camphor and safrole. East African camphorwood (''O. usambarensis''), Peruvian rosewood (''O. cernua'') and Brazilian sassafras (''O. odorifera'') are traded internationally.

Dried fruit cupules of ishpingo (''O. quixos'') are used in Ecuador to flavor beverages, such as colada morada.

Some fast growing ''Ocotea'' tree species are harvested commercially for timber. These include ''O. puberula'', ''O. bullata'' (black or true stinkwood) and ''O. usambarensis''. The timber is valued for its resistance to fungal decay.

''O. odorifera'' (Brazilian sassafras) and ''O. kuhlmanni'' are frequently used as honey plants.

==Selected species== {{Main|List of Ocotea species|l1=List of ''Ocotea'' species}} The following are some of the species of ''Ocotea''.<ref>{{GRIN|name=''Ocotea'' Aubl.|id=8359 |access-date=February 19, 2010}}</ref> Distinguishing ''Ocotea'' species from ''Nectandra'' and other close relatives is problematic. ''Povedadaphne'' may be better placed in ''Ocotea''.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}

{{div col|colwidth=24em}} * ''Ocotea aciphylla'' * ''Ocotea acutifolia'' (Nees) Mez * ''Ocotea albida'' * ''Ocotea albopunctulata'' * ''Ocotea amazonica'' * ''Ocotea amplifolia'' * ''Ocotea arnottiana'' * ''Ocotea atirrensis'' * ''Ocotea bangii'' * ''Ocotea basicordatifolia'' * ''Ocotea benthamiana'' * ''Ocotea bofo'' * ''Ocotea bullata'' – black stinkwood, true stinkwood * ''Ocotea camphoromoea'' * ''Ocotea catharinensis'' * ''Ocotea cernua'' – Peruvian rosewood * ''Ocotea clarkei'' * ''Ocotea corymbosa'' Mez * ''Ocotea cuneifolia'' * ''Ocotea cymbarum'' (often included in ''O. odorifera'') * ''Ocotea diospyrifolia'' (Meisn.) Mez * ''Ocotea dispersa'' (Nees) Mez * ''Ocotea divaricata'' (Nees) Mez * ''Ocotea domatiata'' Mez * ''Ocotea fasciculata'' (Nees) Mez * ''Ocotea floribunda'' * ''Ocotea foeniculacea'' – black sweetwood * ''Ocotea foetens'' – "til", "tilo" * ''Ocotea gabonensis'' * ''Ocotea glaucosericea'' * ''Ocotea glaziovii'' Mez * ''Ocotea gracilis'' * ''Ocotea guianensis'' * ''Ocotea harrisii'' * ''Ocotea heterochroma'' * ''Ocotea indecora'' (Schott) Mez * ''Ocotea insularis'' * ''Ocotea illustris'' * ''Ocotea infrafoveolata'' * ''Ocotea jelskii'' * ''Ocotea jorge-escobarii'' * ''Ocotea kenyensis'' * ''Ocotea lancifolia'' * ''Ocotea lancilimba'' * ''Ocotea langsdorffii'' * ''Ocotea leucoxylon'' – loblolly sweetwood * ''Ocotea mandonii'' * ''Ocotea marmellensis'' * ''Ocotea matogrossensis'' * ''Ocotea megaphylla'' * ''Ocotea minarum'' Mart. ex Nees * ''Ocotea monteverdensis'' – Burger * ''Ocotea monzonensis'' * ''Ocotea moschata'' – nemoca * ''Ocotea nemodaphne'' – laurel sassafras * ''Ocotea notata'' (Nees) Mez * ''Ocotea oblonga'' * ''Ocotea obtusata'' * ''Ocotea odorifera'' – Brazilian sassafras * ''Ocotea oocarpa'' * ''Ocotea otuzcensis'' * ''Ocotea pachypoda'' * ''Ocotea pauciflora'' * ''Ocotea porosa'' * ''Ocotea porphyria'' * ''Ocotea portoricensis'' * ''Ocotea prunifolia'' * ''Ocotea puberula'' * ''Ocotea pulchra'' Vattimo-Gil * ''Ocotea quixos'' – ishpingo * ''Ocotea raimondii'' * ''Ocotea rivularis'' * ''Ocotea robertsoniae'' * ''Ocotea rotundata'' * ''Ocotea rubrinervis'' * ''Ocotea rugosa'' * ''Ocotea sericea'' * ''Ocotea silvestris'' Vattimo-Gil * ''Ocotea smithiana'' * ''Ocotea spathulata'' * ''Ocotea spectabilis'' * ''Ocotea spixiana'' (Nees) Mez * ''Ocotea staminoides'' * ''Ocotea tabacifolia'' (Meisn.) Rohwer * ''Ocotea teleiandra'' (Meisn.) Mez * ''Ocotea urbaniana'' Mez * ''Ocotea uxpanapana'' * ''Ocotea vaccinioides'' Meisn. * ''Ocotea velloziana'' * ''Ocotea velutina'' Mart. * ''Ocotea viridiflora'' * ''Ocotea wrightii'' – Wright's laurel canelon {{div col end}}

===Formerly placed here=== * ''Chlorocardium rodiei'' (bibiru, "greenheart"), as ''O. rodiei'' * ''Nectandra coriacea'' ("lancewood"), as ''O. catesbyana, O. coriacea'' * ''Sextonia rubra'', as ''O. rubra''[https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3391778?uid=3739560&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101132516877] * ''Kuloa usambarensis'' – (East African camphorwood) as ''O. usambarensis''

==Fossil record== †''Ocotea hradekensis'' from the early Miocene, has been described from fragmentary fossil leaf compressions that have been found in the Kristina Mine at Hrádek nad Nisou in North Bohemia, the Czech Republic. ''O. foetens'' from the Canary Islands is its nearest living relative.<ref>A review of the early Miocene Mastixioid flora of the Kristina Mine at Hrádek nad Nisou in North Bohemia, The Czech Republic, January 2012 by F. Holý, Z. Kvaček and Vasilis Teodoridis - ACTA MUSEI NATIONALIS PRAGAE Series B – Historia Naturalis • vol. 68 • 2012 • no. 3–4 • pp. 53–118</ref> Fossil †''Ocotea heerii'' leaf impressions of Messinian age (ca. 5.7 Ma) have been uncovered in Monte Tondo, northern Apennines, Italy.<ref>Palaeoenvironmental analysis of the Messinian macrofossil floras of Tossignano and Monte Tondo (Vena del Gesso Basin, Romagna Apennines, northern Italy) - Vasilis Teodoridis, Zlatko Kvacek, Marco Sami and Edoardo Martinetto - December 2015 DOI: 10.14446/AMNP.2015.249.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|32em}}

==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Ocotea|''Ocotea''}}

Category:Ocotea Category:Lauraceae genera Category:Flora of the Neotropical realm Category:Flora of the Afrotropical realm