I'm on vacation, so please accept my apologies for the brief entries. -- Daniel.
Thank you to Charlie Willis of Harvard University for submitting today's photograph taken in summer of 2007 at the Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán (CICY) Jardines Botánico in Mérida, Mexico. Much appreciated!
As Charlie noted in his correspondence with me, the common name of this tropical shrub is cudjoewood. Jacquinia pungens was Cal's Plant of the Week in mid-May of 2004, so head on there for a brief description as well as cultural requirements in greenhouse conditions. A comprehensive ecological description of the plant is more-or-less available (depending on whether you have institutional access or not) through Janzen, D. 1970. Jacquinia pungens, a Heliophile from the Understorey of Tropical Deciduous Forest. Biotropica. 2(2):112-119. Janzen notes that Jacquinia pungens has the uncommon behaviour of bearing leaves during the dry season and losing its leaves for the rainy season (a contrary behaviour to most tropical deciduous plants). He also makes mention of how plants protect themselves from herbivory: toxic compounds in the foliage and needle-tipped leaves.
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And those of us who are curious immediately wonder how and why it manages the uncommon behaviour of bearing leaves during the dry season and losing its leaves for the rainy season?
Any thoughts?
Maybe, like the California buckeye's off-season leaves, to take advantage of sunlight with less competition? I'm not familiar with tropical deciduous forest, so I don't know if comparisons can be accurately made. How long does J. pungens retain its leaves?
Hmm...good thing it has toxins as a weapon, because if it has leaves when most plants don't, it might look like the only meal around.