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Cordia decandra (Carbonillo) A large shrub or small tree 10 to 15 feet tall with a crooked gray barked trunk of very dense wood and narrow wavy rough textured 1 to 2 inch long gray-green leaves that are densely clustered with short internodes along the brown stems. From winter long into spring appear the clusters of dark buds covered with black hairs that open into 1 inch wide white bell shaped flowers at branch tips and are followed by a woody fruit.
Plant in full sun with no irrigation required. This plant comes from an extremely dry area that experiences winter rainfall of 4 to 12 inches of rain per year with long droughts and years with no rainfall at all. Hardiness is not well known though some sources note it does not tolerate freezing or is hardy only to 30° F but the climate of its native habitat should experience relatively cool winters at elevation, so perhaps it will prove hardier. A very attractive plant that should be a good addition to our summer dry landscapes.
Cordia decandra is common in the transition between desert scrub and matorral (equivalent to our chaparral) from the Atacama and Coquimbo regions of Chile near the coast up to around 5,000 feet along north facing (towards the sun in southern hemisphere) slopes. The name for the genus honors the 16th century German botanists Euricius Cordus and his son Valerius Cordus and the specific epithet is Latin for "ten males" in reference to the flowers having ten stamens. The common name Carbonillo is thought to be a reference to the wood being used for the making of charcoal (carboncillo in Spanish) though some note it might also refer to the blackish colored flower buds. This plant has thrived in the UCLA Mildred Mathias Botanic Garden and at the Cal State Fullerton Arboretum where our plants originated from cuttings and the accompanying photographs were taken. Our thanks to Ken Greby and Don Hodel for arranging for these cuttings to get to us.
Information displayed on this page about Cordia decandra is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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