Alexandrian laurel (Calophyllum inophyllum) is a big evergreen tree of family Clusiaceae native from East Africa, southern coastal India to Malesia and Australia. Nowadays it is widely cultivated in all tropical regions of the world, including several Pacific Islands. Because of its decorative leaves, fragrant flowers and spreading crown, it is best known as an ornamental plant. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Scientific classification - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... Divisions Green algae land plants (embryophytes) non-vascular embryophytes Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses vascular plants (tracheophytes) seedless vascular plants Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongue ferns seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... Orders see text Dicotyledons or dicots are flowering plants whose seed contains two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. ... Families Family Achariaceae Family Balanopaceae Family Bonnetiaceae Family Caryocaraceae Family Chrysobalanaceae Family Clusiaceae Family Ctenolophonaceae Family Dichapetalaceae Family Elatinaceae Family Erythryloxaceae (coca family) Family Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) Family Euphroniaceae Family Goupiaceae Family Humiriaceae Family Hypericaceae (St Johns wort family) Family Irvingiaceae Family Ixonanthaceae Family Lacistemaceae Family Linaceae (flax family... Genera see text Ref: ITIS 2003-09-19 Clusiaceae is a family of plants including the over a thousand species of trees and shrubs, often with milky sap and fruits or capsules for seeds. ... Species See text The genus Calophyllum (beautiful leaf, from Greek kalos, beautiful, and phullon, leaf) is a taxon, composed exclusively of tropical evergreen trees, of the family Clusiaceae. ... This article is about plant types. ... This article is about the domestic group. ... Genera see text Ref: ITIS 2003-09-19 Clusiaceae is a family of plants including the over a thousand species of trees and shrubs, often with milky sap and fruits or capsules for seeds. ... East Africa is a region generally considered to include: Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia Kenya Somalia Tanzania Uganda [[Image:Example. ... Malesia is a biogeographical region straddling the boundary of the Indomalaya and Australasia ecozones. ... The tropics are the geographic region of the Earth centered on the equator and limited in latitude by the two tropics: the Tropic of Cancer in the north and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere. ... The Pacific Ocean has an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 islands; the exact number is unknown. ...

Description

This is a low-branching and slow-growing tree with a broad and irregular crown. It usually reaches 8 to 20 m in height. The flower is 25 mm wide and occur at axiles or in racemose or paniculate inflorescence consisting of 4 to 15 flowers. Flowers might happen yearlong, but usually 2 distinct flowering periods are observed: in late spring and in late autumn. The fruit (commonly called ballnut) is a round, green drupe reaching 2 to 4 cm in diameter and having a single large seed. When ripe, the fruit is wrinkled and its color varies from yellow to brownish-red. An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers on a branch of a plant. ... The word spring has several meanings: spring (device), a common mechanical part. ... Autumn colours at Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire, England. ... The peach is a typical drupe (stone fruit) In botany, a drupe is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp or skin and mesocarp or flesh) surrounds a shell (the pit or stone) of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. ...

Habitat

This tree often grows in coastal regions as well as nearby lowland forests. However it has been successfully cultivated in inland areas or in altitude. It stands varied kinds of soil, coastal sand, clay or even degraded soil for instance. The term habitat has a number of unrelated meanings: A concept in Ecology: see habitat. ... For the heavy metal band see Soil (band) Soil is the layer of minerals and organic matter, in thickness from centimetres to a metre or more, on the land surface. ... Patterns in the sand Sand is an example of a class of materials called granular matter. ... Clay is a generic term for an aggregate of hydrous silicate particles less than 4 μm (micrometres) in diameter. ...

Use

Besides being a popular ornamental plant, its wood is hard and strong and has been used in construction or boatbuilding as well as for other targets. The seeds yield a thick, dark green oil for medicinal use or hair grease.

Besides, the tree is regarded sacred in some Pacific islands.