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Hieronyma alchorneoides
Phyllanthaceae FAMILY

Hieronyma alchorneoides

Hieronyma alchorneoides

Edibility
0/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
GrowthFast

A tree of the wet, lowland tropics, where it is found at elevations below 900 metres[1]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 24 - 34°c, but can tolerate 20 - 38°c[2]. It can be killed by temperatures of 5°c or lower[2]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 3,500 - 4,500mm, but tolerates 2,000 - 6,000mm[3, 2]. Succeeds in a sunny position and in dappled shade[4]. The plant is found in the wild on alluvial, clayey or acid soils[3]. It grows well on poor soils and soils that are acidic and seasonally waterlogged[1]. Prefers a pH in the range 4.5 - 5.5, tolerating 4 - 6.5[2]. A fast-growing tree, when grown in a plantation three year old trees were up to 5 metres tall[5]. Trees begin to produce seed when the bole is around 30cm in diameter. Flowering and fruiting often take place twice a year[3]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if seed is required[1].

Propagation

Seed - it has a viability of 12 months or less and so is best sown when fresh. The seed has no dormancy and can be sown without pre-treatment[1]. Sow in light shade in a nursery seedbed or individual containers. Germination begins after 25 - 30 days and is complete about 60 days after sowing. Prick out the seedlings into individual containers when they are large enough to handle and grow on in light shade. Transplanting must be done carefully as the roots are fragile[1]. Vegetative propagation with pseudocuttings is also possible[1]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Hieronyma+alchorneoides>

Pollinators

Insects

References

  1. [1]Seed Leaflets — Various · Forest & Landscape. Denmark · http://en.sl.life.ku.dk/Publikationer/Udgivelser/PopulaerPublikationer.aspx?katid={D28373CC-6EF3-4EF8-B097-6D83FABF209E}&serieid={9F1C3DB1-6E7B-4CF1-AF53-F480B0CB40EF}&sort=title ↩︎A series of leaflets, jointly produced by the University of Copenhagen and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, focussing on seed information for a number species, but also giving a lot of other information about each plant.
  2. [2]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  3. [3]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
  4. [4]Brazilian Trees. Volume 1. 4th Edition. — Lorenzi. H. · Instituto Plantarum De Estudos Da Flora; Brazil. · 2002 · ISBN 85-86714-17-8 ↩︎Information on 350 species of Brazilian trees. Stunning photographs of each species, brief details on the plant, its uses and how to grow it from seed. A superb work, with the minor irritation that the translation from Portuguese is not of the best.
  5. [5]Timber Trees of Meso America. — UNEP · 2005 · http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/timber/workshops/reports/MA2005/Annex%202.pdf ↩︎A PDF document, published on the internet. Detailed reports on about 30 species of timber trees from Central America.
  6. [6]Flora of Guatemala — Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark · 1946 - 1976 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/
  7. [7]Present and Potential Commercial Timbers of the Caribbean — Longwood.F.R. · USDA Forest Service; Washington, DC. · 1962 ↩︎Quite detailed information on more than 60 species of Caribbean timber trees, giving species descriptions, habitat, detailed info on the wood and some info on other uses. Available for download on the internet.
  8. [8]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.
  9. [9]Medicinal Plants of the Guianas — DeFilipps, R. A.; Maina, S. L.; & Crepin, J. · Smithsonian Museum · http://botany.si.edu/bdg/medicinal/index.html ↩︎A down-loadable PDF document of a book in pre-publication awaiting illustration. An excellent, if rather terse, guide to the traditional medicinal uses of the plants of the region