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Schinus areira

L. (1753)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Rosids Order: Sapindales Family: Anacardiaceae Genus: Schinus

Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Trees 5–15 m tall.

Stems: Slender drooping branches forming a spreading crown.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves compound (odd-pinnate). Alternate. Blades narrowly lanceolate to linear–lanceolate, 1.5–5(–7) cm long, 0.2–0.7 cm wide, leaflets in 7–20 pairs, terminal leaflet smaller than the lateral ones. Surfaces glabrous to sparsely puberulent. Margins entire to remotely serrate. Petiolate. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in terminal panicles or axillary in the uppermost leaves; pedicels and peduncles glabrous or nearly so. Flowers unisexual, dioecious. Calyx of 5 sepals; sepals deltate, ca. 0.4 mm long. Corolla of 5 petals; petals yellowish white, narrowly ovate, 1.5–2 mm long. Stamens 10, represented by staminodes in pistillate flowers. Ovary superior, 1-celled; ovule 1; styles 3; stigmas 3. Staminate flowers with pistillodes.

Fruit: Drupes lavender to pink; 6–8 mm in diameter. Seeds with an oily embryo.

Ploidy: 2n = 28; 30.

Habitat: Recently sparingly naturalized in pastures.

Elevation Range:

Historical Distribution

Uses and Culture

USES

Natural History

Statewide Status

Naturalized

Island Status

Kaua'i Only found in cultivation
O'ahu Only found in cultivation
Maui Potentially naturalizing
Hawai'i Naturalized

Dispersal Agents

Birds

Pollinators

Notes

  • Description digitized by Pumehana Imada
  • Native to South America; in Hawai‘i commonly cultivated on all of the main islands. Cultivated prior to 1871 (Hillebrand, 1888).

Bibliography

Name Published In: Sp. Pl.: 389 (1753)

Other References

Wagner et al. 1990:198 (EM, H [as S. molle]); Staples & Herbst 2005:106 (DESCR [as S. molle]); Zapater et al. 2018/Faccenda, Arthur, et al. 2025:153 (S. molle misapplied = S. areira)

Wagner, W. L., Herbst, D. R., & Sohmer, S. H. (1999). Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai'i, Vols. 1 and 2 (No. Edn 2). University of Hawai'i and Bishop Museum Press.

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Scientific Name Authorship Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
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