Azorean Picconia

Picconia Azorica

Smooth and whitish bark tree; perennial and glabrous leaves, about 6 cm long, lanceolate or obovate, characteristic for having a prominent central rib and the lateral ones slightly protruding; White flowers, small, in axillary curls. It usually occurs between 50 and 600 m, dispersed in the coastal forests of Myrica, Pittosporum and Erica, being the only endemic tree in the Azores that is confined to the vegetation below the laurissilva. Pure or old settlements are rare. It provides good timber for joinery, which is certainly at the origin of its disappearance and eminence of extinction in some of the islands.