''Jupunba alexandri'' (synonym ''Abarema alexandri'') 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 ...

of the genus '' Jupunba'' in the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

. It is a tree

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, where it can be found in woodland or thicket on limestone soils.

Taxonomy

It was first described in 1900 as ''Pithecellobium jupunba'' var. ''alexandri'' by

Ignatz Urban Ignatz Urban (7 January 1848 – 7 January 1931) was a German botany, botanist. He is known for his contributions to the flora of the Caribbean and Brazil, and for his work as curator of the Botanical Garden in Berlin, Berlin Botanical Garden. B ...

, who redescribed it in 1908 as ''Pithecellobium alexandri.'' The name accepted for this species by most authorities is ''Jupunba alexandri'' , a name given in 1928 by the American botanists,

Nathaniel Lord Britton Nathaniel Lord Britton (1859 – 1934) was an American botanist and taxonomist who co-founded the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, New York (state), New York. Early life Britton was born on the 15 of January 1859 at New Dorp, Staten Island ...

and

Joseph Nelson Rose Joseph Nelson Rose (January 11, 1862 – May 4, 1928) was an American botanist. He was born in Union County, Indiana. His father died serving during the Civil War when Joseph Rose was a young boy. He later graduated from high school in Liberty, ...

Varieties

Two varieties are accepted. * ''Jupunba alexandri var. alexandri'' * ''Jupunba alexandri'' var. ''troyana''

References

* (1996): Silk Tree, Guanacaste, Monkey's Earring: A generic system for the synandrous Mimosaceae of the Americas. Part I. ''Abarema, Albizia'', and Allies. ''Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden'' 74(1): 1–292. * (2005)
Genus ''Abarema''
Version 10.01, November 2005. Retrieved 2008-MAR-31. alexandri Endemic flora of Jamaica Plants described in 1900 Taxa named by Ignatz Urban {{Mimosoideae-stub