Moujean tea

(Nashia inaguensis)

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Description

Nashia inaguensis is an evergreen shrub, commonly referred to as Moujean tea, Bahamas berry, or pineapple verbena. It is native to the east Caribbean islands, in particular the island of Inagua in the Bahamas, after which the species is named. In its native environment, the plant crawls along sunny, rocky outcroppings, semi-protected from steady high winds. It is a loose, spreading shrub with many branches up to 2 m high, with mature trunks of 5–10 cm diameter. The leaves are aromatic, simple, opposite (or fascicled), elliptic to obovate or spatulate, 5–10 mm long, with revolute margins. The flowerheads are axillary, sessile, few-flowered, with a strigose calyx; the corolla is whitish, about 2 mm long, four-lobed, and with four stamens. The fragrant foliage and tiny white flowers are highly attractive to pollinators, in particular the Atala butterfly. Nashia is a genus of flowering plant in the vervain family, Verbenaceae. Until recently, there were 7 known species to exist within the genus Nashia. However, the seven species placed in the genus Nashia were revised, based on the near totality of the (scant) material found in the world's herbaria. A morphological analysis of, in particular, the calyx and fruit reveals the heterogeneity of the genus. As a result, Nashia was reduced to its single original species, N. inaquensis, described from Great Inagua, Bahamas (where it's considered to have been introduced), and recently found in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (St. Croix). N. Spinifera, of Hispaniola, was placed in the genus Isidroa, a monotypic new genus. The five Cuban endemics, plus two newly described here, make up the new genus Diphyllocalyx, formerly Lippia sect. Diphllocalyx of Grisebach.

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Lamiales
Family:Verbenaceae
Genus:Nashia
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