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Dominica Botanic Gardens
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    • Introduction to Website
    • A Brief History
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    • Selected Trees and Shrubs
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    • Florida's Fairchild Garden
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    • Three Virtual Tours
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Selected Trees and Shrubs
Portea carinalis; Syn:  Sabinea carinalis, Common name: Bois Kwaib 


​Plant Family: Member of the Fabaceae family; other members include Colville's Glory (Colvillea racemosa), Glory Cedar(Gliricidia sepium), and Butterfly Pea (Clitoria falcata and C. ternatea)

Description: Shrub or small, spreading tree, up to 6 m tall (20 ft); leaves with 6 to 10 pairs of leaflets; at flower, leaves drop and flowers born along whip like branches; sepals joined in a 5-toothed tube; petals showy, butterfly-shaped, deep red to crimson; fruit a long, flattened pod.

Natural Habitat:Coastal dry, scrub forest; propagation by seed.

Origin and Distribution: Indigenous to Dominica; occurs in the wild in the drier areas of the west coast ; also grown in the Botanic Gardens, Georgetown, Guyana.

Uses: Grown as an ornamental and flowers in February to May

Indigenous Legends: Officially named the "National Tree of Dominica" in 1978. It is thought now to be rare in the wild
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References:
R.A.DeFilipps. Useful Plants of the Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1998
Penelope N. Honychurch. Caribbean Wild Plants and Their Uses Macmillan, London, 1986
​​Gardens Introduction

​

Preface - How it Began
Introduction to Website
A Brief History
Plan of Gardens 
Contemporary Commentary​
​Trees, Shrubs, Birds

​
​
Selected Trees and Shrubs
Medicinal Plants
​
Gardens Activities
  Florida's Fairchild Garden
Parrot/Animal Sanctuary
Birds of the Gardens
Garden Views

​
​
Three Virtual Tours
Panoramic Views Today
Early Panoramic Views
 
Hurricane David's Ravages
Future Developments
Curators/Administrators
Reports and Documents
  
Getting Involved
Related Links
Sub-sites

​

Honorees
Island Scholars
Cabinet Photos
​​Treasures of the Cathedral

​Diaspora Policy Paper
​

Visit the DAAS  Website
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Copyright © -  Davison Shillingford, Clayton Shillingford and (the late) Raglan Riviere