Cafecillo (Casearia aculeata) is a very showy plant, its fruit is very peculiar since it is green on the outside and on the inside it is red with an orange seed. When you touch the red color inside the fruit it stains your finger a bit, although it is removed quickly. Its flower is white and has three petals. This species was photographed in Río Chocón Machacas, Livingston, Izabal.
It is a species of tree of the SALICACEAE family, it is distributed in flooded areas in both the Pacific and Atlantic areas. It is a species that is found from Mexico to Panama and in the Antilles, and part of South America. It is a spiny, evergreen shrub or small tree, usually growing 2 - 3 m tall, but with occasional specimens to 10 m.
It is a kind of cauliflory plant, this means that the flowers are born directly from the stems. Where axillary buds that have the potential to form inflorescences originate, they are located at the angle or axilla, between the stem and the petiole of the leaves.
Photography by: David Arrivillaga, Chocon Machacas (2021)
Uses:
The fruits serve as food for birds. The wood is used for firewood as energy. It is an ornamental commonly used for living fences. (Mahecha, E. 2004) This species is given the name "devil's coffee" because it is accused of being poisonous. It has high alkaloid content so it is used as a pesticide. (Pérez Arbelaez, E. 1996).
Taxonomy:
| KINGDOM | Plantae |
| PHYLLO | Magnoliophyta |
| CLASS | Magnoliopsida |
| ORDER | Malpighiales |
| FAMILY | Salicaceae |
| GENUS | Casearia |
| SPECIES | Casearia aculeata |
| COMMON NAME | Cafecillo, capilin, jiga |
Posted September 28, 2021
Written by Vivian Hurtado & Roxana Leal
Identified Species by Victor Mendoza
