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Thespesia populnea
Also called Indian tulip tree, Pacific rosewood, Portiatree, Seaside Mahoe, Indian Tuliptree, Polynesian Rosewood, Seychelles Rosewood
In Singapore: Bendy Tree, Milo, Bhendi Tree, Portia Tree, Pacific Rosewood, Baru Baru, Baru Laut, Bebaru, 桐棉 (Native to Singapore, Least Concern)
Portia tree is a fast-growing coastal tree in the mallow family, grown in warm tropical and subtropical areas for shade and ornament. It thrives in full sun, salty sea air and sandy soil, and is best kept where frost never occurs.
Thespesia populnea, commonly known as the portia tree (), Pacific rosewood, Indian tulip tree, or milo, among other names, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is a tree found commonly on coasts around the world. Although it is confirmed to be native only to the Old World tropics, other authorities consider it to have a wider, possibly pantropical native distribution. It is thought to be an invasive species in Florida and Brazil.
Thespesia populnea is native to tropical coastlines and is adapted for oceanic dispersal and growth in island environments. It is known from both coasts of Africa, tropical Asia, northern Australia, the Pacific Islands (including Hawaii), the tropical Pacific coast of the Americas from Mexico south to Colombia, the West Indies, and Florida in the United States. Its exact native distribution has been debated, with most authorities considering it to be native only to the Old World tropics, some others such as Plants of the World Online including the Pacific Islands in its native range, and others such as the IUCN Red List and the USDA also including the tropical Americas within its native range. The IUCN only considers T. populnea to be introduced and invasive in Florida. It may also be invasive in northern Brazil.
The heartwood of the Portia tree is dark reddish brown to chocolate brown and has a specific gravity of 0.55 to 0.89.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Thespesia populnea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
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.
