Cordia bellonis

No common name

Description

Cordia bellonis, a plant endemic to the island of Puerto Rico, is found only in the public forests of Maricao, Susua, and Rio Abajo. This species is an arching to erect shrub of about 3.3-6.6 ft (1-2 m) high, having very slender twigs with short hairs. The leaves are alternate, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 0.79-2.36 in (2-6 cm) long, usually two and a half to three times longer than wide. The corolla is white with four subcylindric lobes. The fruit is a pointed drupe, 0.20 in (5 mm) in length. The white axillary flowers are unisexual, and the plants are dioecious (either male or female).

Habitat

C. bellonishas been found in the serpentine soils of Maricao and Susua at road edges, river margins, and on steep slopes. In the Rio Abajo Forest, the species has been found either growing in thickets of vegetation on sunny banks along dirt roads or in open saddles between limestone hills.

Distribution

C. bellonis was first described in 1899 from specimens collected at "Monte Alegrillo." The name of this location in the municipality of Maricao has disappeared from use but most likely referred to the 2,950-ft (900-m) peak at the extreme head of the Rio Maricao whose situation was developed for the installation of telecommunication towers. C. bellonis was also collected in the area known as Indiera Fria and from Monte Cerrote near Adjuntas in 1915.

Later collectors and taxononomists identified its distribution as mountainsides in the vicinity of Maricao and, more generally, the mountain slopes and serpentine hills in northwestern districts of Puerto Rico. A 1991 study reported only four individuals of C. bellonis from Cain Alto Ward in the Maricao Commonwealth Forest and a 1993 study reported 87 individuals at 17 localities in three areas in Maricao, with half of these localities consisting of isolated individuals. Thirty-four of these individuals have been eliminated due to roadside clearing and the reconstruction of road PR 362. A small population of five individuals of C. bellonis was found for the first time in Susua in 1992. This species was also unknown from the Rio Abajo Commonwealth Forest until it was found in 1994. Approximately 118 individuals were found in 12 localities. Ninety-five (82%) of these individuals were removed for possible future reintroduction because of the construction of the road PR 10.

Threats

Only 81 individuals of C. bellonis are known to occur in the wild in Maricao, Susua, and Rio Abajo, and this rarity makes the species vulnerable to the loss of any individual. C. bellonis is threatened by habitat loss, some forest management practices, and very limited distribution.

The rareness and restricted distribution of this species make it extremely vulnerable to habitat destruction and modification, as well as extinction from naturally occurring events such as fire. Because the majority of these individuals occur along both sides of two public roads—PR 120 and PR 362—maintenance of road sides, as well as fires and vandalism, have already resulted in substantial plant losses, and they remain ever-present threats for these populations in the future.

Any widening of these highways, installation of water and sewer pipelines, and the installation of power-lines along these roads may adversely affect the species.

As noted above, 95 of 118 individuals known from the Rio Abajo Commonwealth Forest were removed for the construction of a highway. Of the remaining 23 individuals, 13 have been found in an area designated for compensation (mitigation) for the highway and 10 are found in highway rights-of-way.

A 1994 study reported that 14 individuals from Maricao appeared to have been eliminated due to forest-clearing along the roadside. Twenty additional individuals were apparently destroyed the following year by the clearing which took place during the reconstruction of road PR 362 in the Camp Santana area.

The species is also known from a private land-holding where extraction of fill material for the construction of the road will likely result in the loss of these plants.

The dioecious condition of the species means that C. bellonis individuals require outcrossing to successfully reproduce. This manner of producing off-spring limits reproduction when plant numbers are very low and restricted in distrbution. Reproduction occurs with difficulty or not at all if adequate numbers of both male and female plants in a viable population are not present; if individuals are too widely separated reproduction becomes impossible. More than half of the individuals previously known have been lost through forest destruction; in a large number of the localities where the species is found, the shrub occurs only as isolated individuals.

Conservation and Recovery

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has adopted a regulation that recognizes and provides protection to certain Commonwealth listed species. C. bellonis was not one of these species prior to being listed as a federal endangered species.

Federal listing, by virtue of an existing conservation agreement with the Commonwealth, immediately moved the species to the Commonwealth list. These listings enhance the possibilities of obtaining funding for needed research.

Contacts

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Regional Office, Division of Endangered Species
1875 Century Blvd., Suite 200
Atlanta, Georgia 30345
http://southeast.fws.gov/

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Boquerón Ecological Services Field Office
P. O. Box 491
Boquerón, Puerto Rico 00622-0491
Telephone: (787) 851-7297
Fax: (787) 851-7440

Reference

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1 October 1999. "Recovery Plan for Cordia bellonis." U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Atlanta, Georgia.