Lancewood | |
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Scientific classification
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Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Magnoliids |
Order: | Magnoliales |
Family: | Annonaceae |
Genus: | Oxandra |
Species: | O. lanceolata
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Binomial name | |
Oxandra lanceolata (Sw.) A.Rich. ;
Adansonia 8: 168 1868 [1] | |
Synonyms | |
Bocagea virgata (Sw.) Benth. & Hook.f. |
Oxandra lanceolata, also known as lancewood in English and chilcahuite in Spanish, is a species of plant in the Annonaceae family. It occurs naturally in Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. [5] [6]
It is an evergreen tree growing up to 15 metres high. [6] Its leaves are 3.5-9.5 cm long, 1.5–4 cm wide and elliptic, lanceolate or oblanceolate in shape, with a rounded base and a sharp tip to the leaf blade. The petiole is bare and grows up to 1–2 mm in length. [6] Its compound fruit are ellipsoidal in shape, reddish-black in colour, 11–13 mm long and 7–9 mm wide. [6] Its wood is used as a raw material, [7] such as from October 1886 onwards for truncheons of the Metropolitan Police.