Trema micrantha var. strigillosa (Lundell) Standl. & Steyerm.
Trema mollis (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Blume
Trema riparia Blume
Trema rufescens Blume
Trema schiedeana (Schltdl.) Blume
Trema strigillosa Lundell
Urtica alnifolia Bertero ex Griseb.
Trema micranthum (sometimes Trema micrantha), the Jamaican nettletree[2] or capulin,[3] 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, Jamaica, Cuba,
Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and southern
Florida.[1][4][5]
Description
Trema micranthrum is a shrub or small tree up to 10 m (33 ft) tall. Leaves are egg-shaped, up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long, green on top but covered with white, woolly
pubescence underneath. Flowers are greenish-white. Fruits are yellow to bright reddish-range, up to 4 mm (0.16 in) in diameter.
[4][6][7]
Uses
Following the recent local extirpation of slow-growing
xalama in
San Pablito, Mexico due to unsustainable harvesting driven by tourism, the
Otomi people now use T. micranthum bark strips as a raw material for making handmade
amate paper.[8]
Phytochemicals
Claims have been made that T. micranthum may contain
cannabidiol,[9] a non-psychoactive but medicinally useful component known from Cannabis. However, as with similar claims previously made about the related plant Trema orientale,[10] such claims have not yet been independently replicated by other researchers and are not yet widely accepted by the scientific community.[11]
^USDA, NRCS (n.d.).
"Trema micratha". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
^Peters CM, Rosenthal J, Urbina T (1987). "Otomi bark paper in Mexico: commercialization of a pre-hispanic technology". Economic Botany. 41 (3): 423–432.
doi:
10.1007/BF02859061.
S2CID21173713.