Cordia Boissieri : Lifespan

[Bill H2DB]

   What is a normal life span for this tree ?

[Silas_Sancona]

Know of local trees that are 25-30 years old -At least.  Imagine there are specimens in habitat which are several decades older than that.  Could be longer lived, but would guess maximum lifespan may be somewhere between 100 -3 or 400 years..

[thyerr01]

According to this its 30-50 years. That seems about right given the size of some of the largest ones in Houston. They all breezed through the freezes of the last couple of years, definitely one of my favourite native trees and very underused. I'd give anything for an orange one...

https://web.archive.org/web/20110728152350/http://www.valleyproud.org/PDFs/08_Tree_Guide_07.pdf

[aztropic]

6 hours ago, thyerr01 said:

 I'd give anything for an orange one...

 

Actually,there IS an orange flowering Cordia species - just not as hardy as the white flowered version. Cordia sebestena produces clumps of retina burning orange flowers spring and summer. Here's one I grew from seed that I keep in a pot growing in Arizona.

 

aztropic

Mesa, Arizona 

[Bill H2DB]

Cordia sebestena is native to south Florida .  Up here in almost NE Florida , it is too tender for long term .

I think that there may be a hybrid between the Texas and the Florida species ????  Like to have one .

  My Texas Wild Olive is about 28 years old here in the Daytona Brach area .  It has taken on this gnarled old look over the years . Damage at an early age caused this .

[Silas_Sancona]

6 minutes ago, Bill H2DB said:

Cordia sebestena is native to south Florida .  Up here in almost NE Florida , it is too tender for long term .

I think that there may be a hybrid between the Texas and the Florida species ????  Like to have one .

  My Texas Wild Olive is about 28 years old here in the Daytona Brach area .  It has taken on this gnarled old look over the years . Damage at an early age caused this .

No hybrid between the two sp. that i have heard of, though it would be interesting if one existed..

At least 4 other white flowered sp ..C. sonorae, superba, morelosana, and parvifolia ( more of a large shrub than a tree ) ...the yellow flowered sp, C. lutea,  and at least 3 other red / orange flowered sp., C. dodecandra, which grows as far north as Culican in Sinaloa, C. subcordata  from Malaysia / far N. Australia, and C. rickseckeri ( Puerto Rico / British Virgin Islands ).

[thyerr01]

@aztropicYeah, C. sebestena is the orange flowered one I am familiar with. Whenever I've seen them in Mexico they are swarming with hummingbirds. I'd love a hybrid that combined that orange colour with the cold-hardiness of C. boissieri. 

[Hillizard]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:09 AM, Silas_Sancona said:

Know of local trees that are 25-30 years old -At least.  Imagine there are specimens in habitat which are several decades older than that.  Could be longer lived, but would guess maximum lifespan may be somewhere between 100 -3 or 400 years..

Good to know. That means I have several more lifetimes to enjoy mine, which is in bloom late this year!