Copperwood
Bursera simaruba
Bursera Simaruba
The Bursera simaruba is commonly known as Copperwood, Gumbo-Limbo, or Chaca. Bursera simaruba is a species of tree in the Burseraceae family. It is native to tropical regions of the Americas, from the south-easternmost part of the United States south through Mexico and the Caribbean to Brazil and Venezuela.
The Bursera simaruba can grow to be up to 30 metres tall with a diameter of up to one metre wide at its base. They have a shiny dark red bark, and the leaves are spirally arranged and in pairs on either side of the stem, with 7-11 leaflets. Each leaf has a broad oval shape, are 4–10 cm long and 2–5 cm broad. Their bark is dark red and peeling, which led to it being called the "Tourist Tree" since its bark resembled the skin of sunburnt tourists. The flowers of the Bursera simaruba tree are 1-2 mm in diameter and grow in racemes from branch terminals. Flowers attract Trigona, Hypotrigona, flies, ants, and some small cerambycid beetles. Once pollinated, flowers produce small, oval, red drupes that grow to full size within a week.
The Bursera simaruba can grow to be up to 30 metres tall with a diameter of up to one metre wide at its base. They have a shiny dark red bark, and the leaves are spirally arranged and in pairs on either side of the stem, with 7-11 leaflets. Each leaf has a broad oval shape, are 4–10 cm long and 2–5 cm broad. Their bark is dark red and peeling, which led to it being called the "Tourist Tree" since its bark resembled the skin of sunburnt tourists. The flowers of the Bursera simaruba tree are 1-2 mm in diameter and grow in racemes from branch terminals. Flowers attract Trigona, Hypotrigona, flies, ants, and some small cerambycid beetles. Once pollinated, flowers produce small, oval, red drupes that grow to full size within a week.
The Bursera simaruba tree releases about 6,000 fruits every year, which stay on the tree for eight months before ripening and falling in February to April in the tropics and during the summer in temperate zones. It has small dry three-valved fruits that release their seeds by bursting open when ripe. The fruit encases a single seed that is covered in a red fatty seed-coating and is 5–6 mm diameter. Both ripe and unripe fruits are attached to their stems quite loosely and can easily detach if the tree is shaken. Ripe capsules burst open or are cracked open by birds. Birds also seek out the fruit to feed on the seed-coating, is rich in lipids despite it's small size.
Racemes (n.)-a flower cluster with the separate flowers attached by short equal stalks at equal distances along a central stem. The flowers at the base of the central stem develop first.