''Planchonella duclitan'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the family

Sapotaceae 240px, '' Madhuca longifolia'' var. ''latifolia'' in Narsapur, Medak district, India The Sapotaceae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants belonging to the order (biology), order Ericales. The family includes about 800 species of ev ...

. A tree that may attain a height of 40 meters, presenting glossy leaves and orange fruit. It is common on

Christmas Island Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an Australian external territory comprising the island of the same name. It is located in the Indian Ocean, around south of Java and Sumatra and around north-west of the ...

, dominating up to 20% of the upper leaf canopy, as a tree to 30 meters, in established forest or around 40% in regenerating habitat where it may attain the maximum height. The species has been described as ''Planchonella nitida'' (Blume) Dubard, later regarded as a synonym for this treatment. The tree is used as a nest site by Abbott's booby, a sea-bird species '' Papasula abbotti'', and fruit and flowers provide food for the fruit bat ''

Pteropus natalis The Christmas Island flying fox or Christmas Island fruit bat, as the name suggests, is a flying fox endemic to Christmas Island. It is unclear if it should be considered a distinct species (''Pteropus natalis''), or a subspecies of the black-e ...

''.

References

duclitan Flora of Christmas Island Taxa named by Francisco Manuel Blanco Taxa named by Reinier Cornelis Bakhuizen van den Brink (born 1911) {{Sapotaceae-stub