Citharexylum spinosum Illustration Credit: Shaukat

A deciduous large shrub or small tree. Leaves ovate, oblong-elliptic to lanceolate, 7-16 cm long, 3.5-8 cm broad, glabrous, entire or dentate, subacute; petiole 2-2.5 cm long. Spicate racemes 10-20 cm long, pendulous. Flowers white, 5-6 mm across, subsessile, sweet scented. Calyx-tube c. 3 mm long, minutely 5-toothed, glabrous. Corolla-tube c. 5 mm long, hairy at the throat; lobes obovate, subequal, spreading.

Fl.Per.: Aug.-Nov.

Type: Habitat in Barbados.

Distribution: Indigenous to West Indies, sometimes cultivated in our gardens for its scented flowers.