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Jamaican tree-lily
Portlandia grandiflora
Portlandia grandiflora, the jamaican bellflower, is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. Commonly known as the bell flower, this plant is considered native to Jamaica but is also native to Cuba (VanZile 2014). It is mainly found in limestone montane forests although some occur on karst areas near Jamaica's coast. It mostly grows on alkaline soils as can be observed by the habitats they are found in. In Jamaica, they flower most frequently in May, June, and August, and fruit during the months of January and December.
From the article Portlandia grandiflora on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
What it does
The flower gives off a strong vanilla scent at night that attracts moths. These moths are known to be the pollinators of this Portlandia species (Burghart 2014). Seed dispersal is less obvious: they are evidently not wind dispersed and the woody, non-spiny fruits do not readily suggest animal dispersal either; however we do know that people now disperse and cultivate the seeds.
Wikipedia: “Ecology”
At the table
Although medicinal uses are not known, this plant Portlandia grandiflora is widely planted in gardens as an ornamental because of its beauty and scent.
Wikipedia: “Human Cultivation and uses”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Portlandia grandiflora in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 346401.