Pimenta dioica(L.) Merr.
First published in Contr. Gray Herb., n.s., 165: 337 (1947)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is S. Mexico to Central America, Caribbean. It is a tree and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome. It is used as animal food and a medicine and for food.
Native to:
Bahamas, Belize, Cayman Is., Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Nicaragua
Introduced into:
Bermuda, Caroline Is., Colombia, El Salvador, Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Society Is., Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuela
Synonyms
Has 25 Synonyms
Homotypic Synonyms
- Evanesca crassifolia Raf. inSylva Tellur.: 105 (1838), nom. illeg.
- Myrtus dioica L. inSyst. Nat., ed. 10. 2: 1056 (1759)
Heterotypic Synonyms
- Caryophyllus pimenta (L.) Mill. inGard. Dict., ed. 8.: n.° 2 (1768)
- Eugenia micrantha Bertol. inNuovi Ann. Sci. Nat. 3: 136 (1840), nom. illeg.
- Eugenia pimenta (L.) DC. inProdr. 3: 285 (1828)
- Eugenia pimenta var.longifolia DC. inProdr. 3: 285 (1828)
- Eugenia pimenta var.ovalifolia DC. inProdr. 3: 285 (1828)
- Myrtus aromatica Salisb. inProdr. Stirp. Chap. Allerton: 354 (1796), nom. superfl.
- Myrtus aromatica Poir. inJ.B.A.M.de Lamarck, Encycl. 4: 410 (1798), nom. illeg.
- Myrtus pimenta L. inSp. Pl.: 472 (1753)
- Myrtus pimenta var.brevifolia Hayne inGetreue Darstell. Gew. 9: t. 37 (1825)
- Myrtus pimenta var.longifolia Sims inBot. Mag. 30: t. 1236 (1809)
- Myrtus piperita Sessé & Moc. inFl. Mexic., ed. 2: 124 (1894)
- Pimenta aromatica Kostel. inAllg. Med.-Pharm. Fl. 4: 1525 (1835), nom. superfl.
- Pimenta communis Benth. & Hook.f. inGen. Pl. 1: 717 (1865)
- Pimenta officinalis Lindl. inColl. Bot.: t. 19 (1821)
- Pimenta officinalis var.cumanensis Schiede & Deppe inLinnaea 27: 424 (1856)
- Pimenta officinalis var.longifolia (Sims) O.Berg inLinnaea 27: 423 (1856)
- Pimenta officinalis var.ovalifolia (DC.) O.Berg inLinnaea 27: 424 (1856)
- Pimenta pimenta (L.) H.Karst. inDeut. Fl.: 790 (1882), not validly publ.
- Pimenta vulgaris Bello inAnales Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat. 10: 270 (1881)
- Pimenta vulgaris Lindl. inJ.C. Loudon, Encycl. Pl.: 418 (1829)
- Pimentus aromatica Raf. inSylva Tellur.: 158 (1838), nom. superfl.
- Pimentus geminata Raf. inSylva Tellur.: 105 (1838)
- Pimentus vera Raf. inSylva Tellur.: 105 (1838), nom. superfl.
Classification
- KingdomPlantae
- PhylumStreptophyta
- ClassEquisetopsida
- SubclassMagnoliidae
- OrderMyrtales
- Family
- Genus
- SpeciesPimenta dioica
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POWO follows these authorities in accepting this name:
- Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.
- Baksh-Comeau, Y., Maharaj, S.S., Adams, C.D., Harris, S.A., Filer, D.L. & Hawthorne, W.D. (2016). An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad and Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical 'hotspots'. Phytotaxa 250: 1-431.
- Berendsohn, W.G., Gruber, A.K. & Monterrosa Salomón, J. (2012). Nova Silva Cusatlantica. Árboles natinos e introducidos de El Salvador. Parte 2: Angiospermae - Familias M a P y Pteridophyta. Englera 29-2: 1-300.
- Bernal, R., Gradstein, R.S. & Celis, M. (eds.) (2016). Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia 1-2: 1-3068. Libro impreso.
- Davidse, G. & al. (eds.) (2009). Flora Mesoamericana 4(1): 1-855. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F.
- Evenhuis, N.L. & Eldredge, L.G. (eds.) (2012). Records of the Hawaii biological survey for 2011. Part II: plants. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 113: 1-102.
- Garcia-Mendoza, A.J. & Meave, J.A. (eds.) (2012). Diversidad florística de Oaxaca: de musgos a angiospermas (colecciones y listas de especies), ed. 2: 1-351. Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
- Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Govaerts, R., Sobral, N., Ashton, P., Barrie, F., Holst, B.K., Landrum, L.L., Matsumoto, K., Fernanda Mazine, F., Nic Lughadha, E., Proença, C. & al. (2008). World Checklist of Myrtaceae: 1-455. Kew Publishing, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
- Linares, J.L. (2003 publ. 2005). Lista comentado de los árboles nativos y cultivados en la República de El Salvador. Ceiba; a Scientific and Technical Journal Published by Zamorano 44: 105-268.
- Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
- Suzuki, M., Taufatofua, P. & Koyama, T. (2007). New records of plants from Tonga. Makinoa, n.s., 6: 25-62.
- Welsh, S.L. (1998). Flora Societensis: 1-420. E.P.S. Inc. Utah.
Flora of the Cayman Islands
- Merril in Contr. Gray Herb. 165: 37 (1947).
Kew Species Profiles
- Bown, D. (1995).The Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Herbs & their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London.
- Davidson, A. (2006).The Oxford Companion to Food. Second edition, edited by T. Jaine. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Landrum, L. R. (1986).Campomanesia, Pimenta, Blepharocalyx, Legrandia, Acca, Myrrhinium, and Luma (Myrtaceae). Flora Neotropica: Monograph 45. New York Botanical Garden Press, New York.
- Purseglove, J. W. et al. (1981).Spices. Tropical Agriculture Series Volume 1, Longman, London.
- Sulistiarini, D. (1999).Pimenta dioica (L.) Merrill. In:Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 13. Spices, eds C. C. de Guzman & J. S. Siemonsma, pp. 176-180. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, the Netherlands.
- Vaughan, J. G. & Geissler, C. (1997). The New Oxford Book of Food Plants: a Guide to the Fruit, Vegetables, Herbs and Spices of the World. London: Oxford University Press.
- World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (2012).Pimenta dioica. Published on the Internet by the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia
- Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co
Kew Backbone Distributions
- Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.
- Baksh-Comeau, Y., Maharaj, S.S., Adams, C.D., Harris, S.A., Filer, D.L. & Hawthorne, W.D. (2016). An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad and Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical 'hotspots'. Phytotaxa 250: 1-431.
- Berendsohn, W.G., Gruber, A.K. & Monterrosa Salomón, J. (2012). Nova Silva Cusatlantica. Árboles natinos e introducidos de El Salvador. Parte 2: Angiospermae - Familias M a P y Pteridophyta. Englera 29-2: 1-300.
- Evenhuis, N.L. & Eldredge, L.G. (eds.) (2012). Records of the Hawaii biological survey for 2011. Part II: plants. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 113: 1-102.
- Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2021). Flora of North America North of Mexico 10: 1-456. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford.
- Fosberg, F.R., Sachet, M.-H., Oliver, R. (1979). A geographical checklist of the Micronesian Dicotyledonae. Micronesica; Journal of the College of Guam 15: 41-295.
- Gonzalez, F., Nelson Diaz, J. & Lowry, P. (1995). Flora Illustrada de San Andrés y Providencia: 1-281. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Colombia.
- Welsh, S.L. (1998). Flora Societensis: 1-420. E.P.S. Inc. Utah.
Flora of Tropical East Africa
- Dale, Introd. Trees Uganda: 55 (1953).
- J.P.M. Brenan, Check-lists of the Forest Trees and Shrubs of the British Empire no. 5, part II, Tanganyika Territory p. 378 (1949).
- R. O. Williams, Useful and Ornamental Plants in Zanzibar and Pemba p. 412 (1949).
Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia
- Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R., & Celis, M. (eds.). (2020). Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia. v1.1. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Dataset/Checklist. https://doi.org/10.15472/7avdhn
- Dempewolf, H., Eastwood, R. J., Guarino, L., Khoury, C. K., Müller, J. V. & Toll, J. (2014). Adapting agriculture to climate change: a global initiative to collect, conserve, and use crop wild relatives. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 38, 369-377.
- Diazgranados et al. (2021). Catalogue of plants of Colombia. Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia project. In prep.
- Diazgranados, M., Allkin, B., Black N., Cámara-Leret, R., Canteiro C., Carretero J., Eastwood R., Hargreaves S., Hudson A., Milliken W., Nesbitt, M., Ondo, I., Patmore, K., Pironon, S., Turner, R., Ulian, T. (2020). World Checklist of Useful Plant Species. Produced by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity.
- FPI (2021). Food Plants International. https://fms.cmsvr.com/fmi/webd/Food_Plants_World?homeurl=https://foodplantsinternational.com/plants/
- GBIF.org (2021). GBIF species matching tool. https://www.gbif.org/tools/species-lookup
- GRIN (2021). Germplasm Resources Information Network from the United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.ars-grin.gov/
- IUCN (2021). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-2. https://www.iucnredlist.org.
- Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humbodlt (2014). Plantas alimenticias y medicinales nativas de Colombia. 2567 registros, aportados por: Castellanos, C. (Contacto del recurso), Valderrama, N. (Creador del recurso, Autor), Bernal, Y. (Autor), García, N. (Autor). http://i2d.humboldt.org.co/ceiba/resource.do?r=ls_colombia_magnoliophyta_2014
- Jansen, P., Lemmens, R., Oyen, L., Siemonsma, J., Stavast, F. & Van Valkenburg, J. (1991) Plant Resources of South-East Asia. Basic list of species and commodity grouping. Final version. Pudoc, Wageningen.
- Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS) v.10 (2021); http://mpns.kew.org/
- PROTA (2021). Plants Resources of Tropical Africa. https://prota4u.org/database/
- RBG, Kew (2021). Kew Economic Botany Collection. https://ecbot.science.kew.org/
- Willis, K.J. (ed.) (2017). State of the World’s Plants 2017. Report. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Other Data
Other Kew resources that provide information on this taxon:
| Date | Reference | Identified As | Barcode | Type Status | Has image? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hooker; Purdie [s.n.] Jamaica | K004415023 | Yes | |||
| [Distan] [s.n.] Jamaica | K004415024 | Yes | |||
| s.coll. [s.n.] | K004415098 | Yes | |||
| s.coll. [s.n.] | K004415100 | Yes | |||
| s.coll. [s.n.] | K004415097 | Yes | |||
| K:SPC-65774.000 | No | ||||
| s.coll. [14919] Jamaica | K004415026 | Yes | |||
| s.coll. [s.n.] | K004415099 | Yes | |||
| [Wilson] [s.n.] Jamaica | K004415028 | Yes | |||
| Barclay (Mr) [s.n.] Mauritius | K004415103 | Yes | |||
| s.coll. [s.n.] Mauritius | K004415105 | Yes | |||
| Perkins, J.R. [1274] Jamaica | K004415027 | Yes | |||
| s.coll. [277] | K004415101 | Yes | |||
| s.coll. [s.n.] | K004415107 | Yes | |||
| [Linduca] [542] Brazil | K000565031 | Type | Yes | ||
| [Genl. Walker] [s.n.] | K004415104 | Yes | |||
| Brinsley, G. [2225] Jamaica | K004415025 | Yes | |||
| s.coll. [s.n.] Jamaica | K004415029 | Yes | |||
| [Lauaica Lodu] [s.n.] Jamaica | K004415022 | Yes | |||
| s.coll. [s.n.] | K004415102 | Yes | |||
| Brown, S.; Britton, N.L. [309] Bermuda | Pimenta officinalis | K000676278 | No | ||
| Langley Kitching [s.n.] Mauritius | Pimenta officinalis | K004415106 | Yes | ||
| s.coll. [Cat. no. 3624] | Eugenia pimenta var.longifolia | K001119854 | Unknown Type Material | Yes | |
| Telfair, C. [Cat. no. 3624] Mauritius | Eugenia pimenta var.longifolia | K001119855 | Unknown Type Material | Yes | |
| s.coll. [Cat. no. 3624] | Eugenia pimenta var.ovalifolia | K001119856 | Unknown Type Material | Yes | |
| s.coll. [Cat. no. 3624] | Eugenia pimenta var.ovalifolia | K001119858 | Unknown Type Material | Yes | |
| s.coll. [Cat. no. 3624] | Eugenia pimenta var.ovalifolia | K001119857 | Unknown Type Material | Yes |
Sources
Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1
- Angiosperm Threat Predictions
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Art and Illustrations in Digifolia
- Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew
Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
EBC Common Names
- Common Names from Kew's Economic Botany Collection https://www.kew.org/science/collections-and-resources/collections/economic-botany-collection
Flora of Tropical East Africa
- Flora of Tropical East Africa
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Flora of the Cayman Islands
- Flora of the Cayman Islands
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
- 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
- Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
IUCN Categories
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Kew Backbone Distributions
- The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
- © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Kew Living Collection Database
- Common Names from Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com/
Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
- The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
- © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Kew Science Photographs
- Copyright applied to individual images
Kew Species Profiles
- Kew Species Profiles
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
- ColPlantA database
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0