''Trema micrantha'', the Jamaican nettletree or capulin, is a plant species native to warmer parts of the Western Hemisphere. It has been reported from Mexico, Central America, tropical South America, the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix ...

, Jamaica, Cuba,

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

, Puerto Rico, and southern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

.Flora of North America vol 3 ''Trema micrantha'
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Description

''Trema micrantha'' is a shrub or small tree up to 10 m tall. Leaves are egg-shaped, up to 9 cm long, green on top but covered with white, woolly

pubescence Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. I ...

underneath. Flowers are greenish-white. Fruits are yellow to bright reddish-range, up to 4 mm in diameter.

Uses

Following the recent local extirpation of slow-growing xalama in San Pablito, Mexico due to unsustainable harvesting driven by tourism, the

Otomi The Otomi (; es, Otomí ) are an indigenous people of Mexico inhabiting the central Mexican Plateau (Altiplano) region. The Otomi are an indigenous people of Mexico who inhabit a discontinuous territory in central Mexico. They are linguisticall ...

people now use ''Trema micrantha'' bark strips as a raw material for making handmade

amate Amate ( es, amate from nah, āmatl ) is a type of bark paper that has been manufactured in Mexico since the precontact times. It was used primarily to create codices. Amate paper was extensively produced and used for both communication, record ...

paper.Peters, C. M., Rosenthal, J., & Urbina, T. (1987). Otomi bark paper in Mexico: commercialization of a pre-hispanic technology. ''Economic Botany'', 41(3), 423-432.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10384488 micrantha Flora of Florida Flora of Mexico Flora of South America