Colubrina

Common names include nakedwood, snakewood, greenheart and hogplum. The generic name is derived from the Latin word coluber, meaning "snake", and refers to the snake-like stems or stamens.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=esMPU5DHEGgC |first=Umberto |last=Quattrocchi |title=CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names |volume=I: A-C |year=2000 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-8493-2675-2 |page=588}}

The species are shrubs and small trees growing {{convert|1|-|10|m|ft}} tall, with simple ovate leaves. The flowers are small, greenish-white or yellowish; the fruit is a capsule containing three seeds.

The genus is at least in part a wastebasket taxon, and revision will likely result in the renaming of a number of species to different genera in the future.{{cite web |url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=12&taxon_id=107722 |first=P.B. |last=Phillipson |title=Colubrina Rich. ex Brongn. |work=A Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Madagascar |publisher=eFloras.org |date=2007-07-22 |accessdate=2009-10-01}}

• Colubrina angustior (M.C.Johnst.) G.L.Nesom (eastern Mexico){{cite journal |url=http://www.phytoneuron.net/2013Phytoneuron/04PhytoN-Colubrina.pdf |first=Guy L. |last=Nesom |title=Taxonomic Notes on Colubrina (Rhamnaceae) |journal=Phytoneuron |year=2013 |volume=4 |pages=1–21}}
• Colubrina arborescens (Mill.) Sarg. – Greenheart (southern Florida, southern Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America)
• Colubrina articulata (Capuron) Figueiredo
• Colubrina asiatica (L.) Brongn. – Asian nakedwood, {{okina}}Ānapanapa kukuku (Hawaiian){{cite book |title=Growing Native Hawaiian Plants: A How-to Guide for the Gardener |first=Heidi Leianuenue |last=Bornhorst |edition=2 |publisher=Bess Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-57306-207-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-OESYDpr6wC |page=52}} (Indo-Pacific)
• Colubrina beccariana Warb. (Malaysia)
• Colubrina californica I.M.Johnst. – Las Animas nakedwood
• Colubrina cubensis (Jacq.) Brongn. – Cuban nakedwood (southern Florida, The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba)
• Colubrina decipiens (Baill.) Capuron
• Colubrina elliptica (Sw.) Brizicky & W.L.Stern – mabi, soldierwood (Florida Keys, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, Venezuela)
• Colubrina ferruginosa Brongn.
• Colubrina glandulosa Perkins – glandular nakedwood
• Colubrina greggii S.Watson – Sierra nakedwood
• Colubrina humbertii (H.Perrier) Capuron
• Colubrina nicholsonii Van Wyk & Schrire – Pondo snakewood, Pondo weeping thorn, {{langx|af|Pondo-treurdoring}}{{cite web

|url=http://www2.dwaf.gov.za/dwaf/cmsdocs/4116___poster%20protected%20trees.pdf

|title=Protected Trees

|date=3 May 2013

|publisher=Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Republic of South Africa

|url-status=dead

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705085122/http://www2.dwaf.gov.za/dwaf/cmsdocs/4116___poster%20protected%20trees.pdf

|archivedate=2010-07-05

}}

• Colubrina oppositifolia Brongn. ex H.Mann – kauila (Hawaii)
• Colubrina pedunculata Baker f. (Christmas Island)
• Colubrina pubescens Kurz
• Colubrina stricta Engelm. ex M.C.Johnst. – Comal nakedwood
• Colubrina texensis (Torr. & A.Gray) A.Gray – snakewood or Texan hogplum (Texas, northern Mexico)
• Colubrina verrucosa (Urb.) M.C.Johnst. – Urban's nakedwood{{cite web |url=http://www.tropicos.org/NameSubordinateTaxa.aspx?nameid=40012509 |title=Colubrina Rich. ex Brongn. Subordinate Taxa |work=TROPICOS |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |accessdate=2009-10-01}}{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?2826 |title=GRIN Species Records of Colubrina |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |accessdate=2010-10-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120151642/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?2826 |archive-date=2009-01-20 |url-status=dead }}{{ITIS |id=28519 |taxon=Colubrina |accessdate=2010-01-25}}
• Colubrina yucatanensis (M.C.Johnst.) G.L.Nesom (Yucatán Peninsula)

• Alphitonia excelsa (Fenzl) Reissek ex Benth. (as C. excelsa Fenzl)

Colubrina species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Bucculatrix kendalli which feeds exclusively on C. texensis. Colubrina asiatica, native to tropical Asia, eastern Africa and northern Australia, has become an invasive species in Florida.

In the Caribbean, the leaves and/or fruit and in some cases the bark of some species such as Colubrina elliptica (soldierwood) are used to produce a soft drink called mauby.

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{{Wikispecies}}

• [http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=371&fr=1&sts= Global Invasive Species Database: Colubrina asiatica]
• [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Colubrina+californica Jepson Flora Project: Colubrina californica]

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Category:Rhamnaceae genera

Category:Taxa named by Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart

Category:Taxa named by Louis Claude Richard