Cordia boissieri
Boraginaceae FAMILY Least Concern

Cordia boissieri

Cordia boissieri

Edibility
1/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
GrowthSlow

Succeeds in warm temperate to tropical areas. The plant can tolerate temperatures down to about -6°c, though it will be defoliated by anything more than a mild frost[1]. Prefers a moist but well-drained soil and a position in full sun[2]. Established plants are drought tolerant[3]. All parts of the plant are aromatic[4]. Plants can flower all year round in the warmer parts of its range[1, 5]. A surface-rooting plant[1].

Propagation

Seed - very slow to germinate, the process can be sped up if the seed is scarified by lightly abrading the seedcoat to allow easier ingress of water[3]. Cuttings. Air layering. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Cordia+boissieri>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida — University of Florida · http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/shrubs/ ↩︎PDF fact sheets on over 500 shrubs.
  2. [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  3. [3]Tropical and Subtropical Trees - A Worldwide Encyclopaedic Guide. — Barwick. M. · Thames & Hudson, London · 2004 · ISBN 0-500-51181-0 ↩︎A superb book, very concise and well written, giving a wealth of information on 400 or more species including descriptions, habitat, cultivation details and plant uses. A wealth of colour photographs bring each plant vividly to life.
  4. [4]Trees and Shrubs of Mexico — Standley P.C. · Smithsonian Institution; Washington · 1926 ↩︎Although dated, it contains a wealth of information on the trees and shrubs of Mexico, including many of their uses. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  5. [5]Flowers of India — http://www.flowersofindia.net/ ↩︎A wed site of native Indian plants, plus cultivated and naturalized species. It has good quality photos and terse details on more than 3,000 species and cultivars.
  6. [6]Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants — http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 ↩︎Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
  7. [7]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
  8. [8]Flora del Bajío y de Regiones Adyacentes — Jerzy Rzedowski & Graciela Calderón de Rzedowski (Editors) · Instituto de Ecología A.C. Centro Regional del Bajío; Mexico · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ · ISBN 0188-5170 ↩︎Spanish-language flora of northwestern Mexico. It can be downloaded from the Internet
  9. [9]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  10. [10]Traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology of the medicinal species of the genus Cordia (Boraginaceae) — Oza M.J. & Kulkarni Y.A. · 2017 · http://10.1111/jphp.12715 ↩︎
  11. [11]Ethnomedicines used in Trinidad and Tobago for reproductive problems — Lans C. · 2007 · http://10.1186/1746-4269-3-13 ↩︎
  12. [12]Food Plants in the Americas: A Survey of the Domesticated, Cultivated, and Wild Plants Used for Human Food in North, — Kermath B.M.; Bennett B.C.' Pulsipher L.M. · 2014 ↩︎A pre-publication draft of an amazing, on-going work first started in 1985. It contains information on more than 3,900 taxa from the Americas - from Arctic regions to the Tropics
  13. [13]The Woods of the United States — Sargent C.S. · D. Appleton & Co.; New York · 1885 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Contains information on the woods of a large number of N. American species of trees and shrubs. It can be downloaded from the Internet.