''Planchonella duclitan'' is a species of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

in the family

Sapotaceae 240px, '' Madhuca longifolia'' var. ''latifolia'' in Narsapur, Medak district, India The Sapotaceae are a family of flowering plants belonging to the order (biology)">order Ericales">family (biology)">family of flowering plants belonging to th ...

. This tree can reach up to a height of 40 meters, presenting glossy leaves and orange fruit. It is common on

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an States and territories of Australia#External territories, Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is about south o ...

, dominating up to 20% of the upper leaf canopy, as a tree to 30 meters, in established forest or around 40% in regenerating habitat where it may attain the maximum height. The species has been described as ''Planchonella nitida'' (Blume) Dubard, later regarded as a synonym for this treatment. The tree is used as a nest site by Abbott's booby, a sea-bird species ''

Papasula abbotti Abbott's booby (''Papasula abbotti'') is an endangered seabird of the sulid family, which includes gannets and boobies. It is a large booby and is placed within its own monotypic genus. It was first identified from a specimen collected by Will ...

'', and its fruit and flowers provide food for the fruit bat '' Pteropus natalis''.

References

duclitan Flora of Christmas Island Taxa named by Francisco Manuel Blanco Taxa named by Reinier Cornelis Bakhuizen van den Brink (born 1911) {{Sapotaceae-stub