SafePlants

Soldierwood: A Botanical Overview

The common name "Soldierwood" can refer to several different plants. This page primarily focuses on Colubrina elliptica.

Considerations for Pets

• Colubrina elliptica has dark brown plates of peeling bark.
• Colubrina elliptica leaves are simple and can grow up to 10 cm.
• Calliandra purpurea flowers have long tassels of purple stamens.

Scientific Name and Nomenclature

• Common Name: Soldierwood, Mabi
• Scientific Name: Colubrina elliptica
• Family: Rhamnaceae (Buckthorn family)
• Kingdom: Plantae
• Synonyms: Colubrina elliptica (Sw.) Briz. &amp Stern, Colubrina reclinata (L'Hr.) Brongn.

Distribution and Habitat

• Colubrina elliptica is native to the Florida Keys and the Caribbean.
• In Florida, it is found in the Upper Florida Keys, specifically Key Largo and Upper Matecumbe Key.
• It is a relatively common sub-canopy and edge tree of rockland hammocks.

Morphological Characteristics

• Colubrina elliptica typically grows as a small tree or shrub, commonly reaching 10-20 feet in height.
• It has a slender trunk and branches with a moderately dense crown.
• The bark is characterized by dark brown plates that peel.
• Leaves are alternate, simple, thin, and ovate to elliptic in shape, with long-pointed apices, reaching up to 10 cm in length.
• The leaves have two small glands.

Ecological Role

• Colubrina elliptica is suitable for buffer plantings.

Interactions with Other Organisms

• Colubrina elliptica is a pollinator plant for the Anomalon insect.
• It mixes well with gumbo limbo, Simpson stopper, and other trees with unusual bark.

Other Species Called Soldierwood

• Calliandra purpurea, a showy leguminous plant native to the Lesser Antilles and northern South America, also goes by the common name "Soldierwood."