Cordia obliqua
(clammy cherry)

Preferred Common Name

• clammy cherry

Other Scientific Names

• Cordia tremula Griseb.

International Common Names

• English: cordia-tree
• Spanish: ateje americano; cereza blanca; uva gomosa

Local Common Names

• Cuba: ateje americano; ateje americano; uva gomosa
• India: bahubara; bhokar; bohadori; borla; buhal; lasura
• Lesser Antilles: coco chat; gum; kaka poul; sticky cherry; Turkey berry; white manjack
• Saint Lucia: glue; sip

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Boraginales
•                         Family: Boraginaceae
•                             Genus: Cordia
•                                 Species: Cordia obliqua

The family Boraginaceae includes 110 genera and 1595 species distributed mostly in the northern hemisphere in warm to temperate habitats (Stevens, 2012). The genus Cordia is classified within the subfamily Cordiaceae which is a monophyletic subfamily supported by molecular data and by morphological apomorphies such as the presence of an undivided endocarp, four stigmatic lobes, and plicate cotyledons (Gottschling et al., 2005). The genus Cordia is extremely morphologically diverse and comprises approximately 350 species of trees and shrubs distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world (Miller and Gottschling, 2007).

The Plant List (2013) lists C. obliqua as a synonym of Cordia dichotoma G.Forst, but other sources including USDA-ARS (2014), USDA-NRCS (2014) and ITIS give C. obliqua and C. dichotoma as separate accepted species. 

C. obliqua is a small tree, 3-4 m tall, the branches rather contorted and arching; leaves elliptic, oblong, 4-9 cm long, 3-7.5 cm broad, glabrous above, tomentose beneath, petioles 1-3.5 cm long. Inflorescences terminating in leafy lateral branches, dichotomously branched into corymbose cymes, widely spaced, 5-8 cm wide. Flowers dimorphic, sessile. Calyx campanulate, 5-6 mm, 3 to 5-lobed; lobes unequal, triangular. Corolla white, approximately as long as calyx; lobes shorter than tube, margin somewhat undulate. Drupes yellow or reddish, subglobose, 2 cm in diameter, with sticky mesocarp. 

C. obliqua was probably introduced into the West Indies during the 1900s. For Puerto Rico there is a record explaining that a tree of this species was intentionally planted at the Mayaguez Experiment Station in 1920 and that by 1926 it was about 10 m high (Britton and Wilson, 1926). This species also appears in herbarium collections made in 1927 in Cuba, 1954 in St Thomas, and in 1958 in St Kitts and St Lucia (US National Herbarium).  

Soil reaction

• acid
• neutral

Soil texture

• light
• medium

C. obliqua spreads mostly by seed, but also by cuttings or by stump plants. Seeds are dispersed primarily by birds and humans and secondarily by water and other animals (i.e., cattle). 

C. obliqua represents a threat for native vegetation mainly in insular ecosystems. For the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico this species is listed as invasive and it is colonizing areas in secondary forests, coastal areas, coastal hills, mangroves and open forests (Kairo et al., 2003; Oviedo Prieto et al., 2012; PIER, 2014; Rojas-Sandoval and Acevedo-Rodriquez, 2014). 

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Has a broad native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Is a habitat generalist
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Tolerant of shade
• Highly mobile locally
• Benefits from human association (i.e. it is a human commensal)
• Long lived
• Fast growing
• Has high reproductive potential

• Ecosystem change/ habitat alteration
• Modification of successional patterns
• Reduced native biodiversity
• Threat to/ loss of native species

• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Competition - shading
• Competition - smothering
• Pest and disease transmission
• Rapid growth

• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately

In India, C. obliqua is used in traditional medicine: the fruits can be used as an expectorant, for coughs and for lung diseases. The raw fruits are used as a vegetable. A very good pickle of raw fruits is also made. The mucilaginous substance of the fruit can be used as a gum for pasting sheets of paper or cardboard (Parmar and Kaushal, 1982).