Cordia is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It contains about 300 species of shrubs and trees, that are found worldwide, mostly in warmer regions. Many of the species are commonly called manjack, while bocote may refer to several Central American species in Spanish. The generic name honours German botanist and pharmacist Valerius Cordus. Like most other Boraginaceae, the majority have trichomes on the leaves.
Taxonomy
The taxonomy of Cordia is complex and controversial. Gottschling et al. say this is partly due to "extraordinarily high intraspecific variability" in some groups of species, making identification difficult, and partly due to new taxa having been "airily described on the basis of poorly preserved herbarium specimens".
Cordia domestica is treated as a separate species by some sources, and as C. myxa var. domestica by others. Cordia obliqua has been placed in the "Cordia myxa complex", or treated as a synonym for Cordia dichotoma.
Cordia sebestena L. – Geiger tree, large-leaf Geigertree
Cordia sinensis Lam. – Grey-leafed saucerberry
Cordia subcordata Lam. – Kou, tou, marer
Cordia sulcata DC. – Mucilage manjack,
laylay, white manjack, wild clammy cherry
Formerly placed here
Carmona retusa Masam.
Ecology
Cordia species are used as food plants by the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera species, such as Endoclita malabaricus, Bucculatrix caribbea, and Bucculatrix cordiaella. The wild olive tortoise beetle feeds on C. boissieri, C. dentata, C. inermis, and C. macrostachya.
Uses
Ornamental
Many cordias have fragrant, showy flowers and are popular in gardens, although they are not especially hardy.
As food
A number of the tropical species have edible fruits, known by a wide variety of names including clammy cherries, glue berries, sebesten, or snotty gobbles. In India, the fruits of local species are used as a vegetable, raw, cooked, or pickled, and are known by many names, including lasora in Hindi. One such species is fragrant manjack, which is called gunda or tenti dela in Hindi and lasura in Nepali. The fruit of the Fragrant Manjack is called phoà-pò·-chí, 樹子仔, or 樹子 in Taiwan where they are eaten pickled.
Glue
The white, gooey inner pulp of the fruits is traditionally used to make glue.
Wood
The wood of several Cordia species is commercially harvested. Ecuador laurel, ziricote, Spanish elm, and C. goeldiana are used to make furniture and doors in Central and South America. Ziricote and bocote are sometimes used as tonewoods for making the backs and sides of high-end acoustic guitars such as the Richard Thompson signature model from Lowden. Similarly, drums are made from C. abyssinica, C. millenii, and C. platythyrsa due to the resonance of the wood.
