Cordia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cordiaceae. It contains 228 species of shrubs and trees, that are found in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. Many of the species are commonly called manjack, while bocote may refer to several Central American species in Spanish.
The generic name honours German botanist and pharmacist Valerius Cordus (1515–1544). Like most other Boraginales, the majority have trichomes (hairs) on the leaves.
Taxonomy
The taxonomy of Cordia is complex and controversial. Gottschling et al. (2005) say this is partly due to "extraordinarily high intraspecific variability" in some groups of species, making identification difficult, and partly due to new taxa having been "airily described on the basis of poorly preserved herbarium specimens".
Cordia africana Lam. – White manjack
Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav.) Oken – Spanish elm, Ecuador laurel, salmwood, bocote (Neotropics)
Cordia boissieri A.DC. – Anacahuita, Texas olive (southern Texas, Northern Mexico)
Cordia dentata Poir. – White manjack
Cordia dichotoma G.Forst – Fragrant manjack, bird lime tree (Tropical Asia and Australasia)
Cordia lutea Lam. – Yellow cordia (western South America, including the Galápagos Islands)
Cordia monoica
Cordia myxa L. – Assyrian plum (South Asia) Cordia domestica is treated as a separate species by some sources, and as C. myxa var. domestica by others. Cordia obliqua Willd. (the clammy cherry) has been placed in the "Cordia myxa complex", or treated as a synonym for Cordia dichotoma.
Cordia platythyrsa Baker – West African cordia
Cordia sebestena L. – Geiger tree, large-leaf Geigertree (southern Florida, Greater Antilles, Central America)
Cordia sinensis Lam. (=C. gharaf) – Grey-leafed saucerberry
Cordia subcordata Lam. – Kou, tou, marer (Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia, Pacific Islands)
Cordia sulcata DC. – Mucilage manjack, laylay, white manjack, wild clammy cherry
Cordia trichotoma...
