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Portlandia grandiflora
Also called Jamaican Bell Flower, Jamaican Tree Lily, White Horse
Portlandia grandiflora, the jamaican bellflower, is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. Commonly known as the bell flower, this plant is considered native to Jamaica but is also native to Cuba (VanZile 2014). It is mainly found in limestone montane forests although some occur on karst areas near Jamaica's coast. It mostly grows on alkaline soils as can be observed by the habitats they are found in. In Jamaica, they flower most frequently in May, June, and August, and fruit during the months of January and December.
Although medicinal uses are not known, this plant Portlandia grandiflora is widely planted in gardens as an ornamental because of its beauty and scent.
The flower gives off a strong vanilla scent at night that attracts moths. These moths are known to be the pollinators of this Portlandia species (Burghart 2014). Seed dispersal is less obvious: they are evidently not wind dispersed and the woody, non-spiny fruits do not readily suggest animal dispersal either; however we do know that people now disperse and cultivate the seeds.
Portlandia coccinea · Portlandia harrisii · Portlandia platantha · Portlandia
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Portlandia grandiflora by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
