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Papaveraceae family

Parrotweed Bocconia frutescens

Native

Parrotweed is a perennial tree native to Puerto Rico.

More about this plant

Bocconia frutescens is a species of flowering plant in the poppy family known by many common names, including plume poppy, tree poppy, tree celandine, parrotweed, sea oxeye daisy, and John Crow bush in English, gordolobo, llorasangre, tabaquillo, palo amarillo, palo de toro and pan cimarrón in Spanish, bois codine in French and bwa kodenn in Haitian Kreyòl. It is native to the Americas, including Mexico, parts of Central and South America, and the West Indies. It is perhaps better known in Hawaii, where it is an introduced species and an aggressive invasive weed with rapid negative effects on local ecosystems. In other parts of the United States it is used as an ornamental plant for its "tropical"-looking foliage. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY

Size & form

Sources · Size & form

USDA PLANTS — Lifespan

TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0) — Foliage

Lifespan: Perennial
Foliage: Evergreen broadleaf

In the garden

Tree layer (canopy / understory) — Sits in the tree of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →

derived roles

Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →

Wildlife & visitors 69 birds

Open records of who else uses Parrotweed — a generalist food-web signal, kept separate from the keystone Ecological Value.

Recorded eaten by 69 birds species (fruit, seed, browse) — the most-recorded:

Elaenia frantzii · Mountain Elaenia

Vireo olivaceus · Red-Eyed Vireo

Vireo carmioli · Yellow-Winged Vireo

Mionectes olivaceus · Olive-Striped Flycatcher

Colaptes rubiginosus · Golden-Olive Woodpecker

Pheucticus ludovicianus · Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

Interaction records (observations, not exhaustive) from GloBI → (CC0). Counts are distinct species; names are the most-recorded. Common names from Wikidata (CC0).

Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.

How we know this (2) Methods & honest limits

Leaf build Direct fact

We read each species’ measured specific leaf area (leaf area per unit dry weight) from the Global Spectrum dataset and band it: thin & fast (high SLA), medium, or thick & tough (low SLA). The global median is about 10 mm²/mg.

Honest limits: A species-mean from pooled measurements — individual plants vary with light and site. A broad strategy signal, not a precise per-plant figure.

Díaz, S. et al. (2022) The global spectrum of plant form and function: enhanced species-level trait dataset. Scientific Data 9:755.

Photosynthesis Direct fact

A recorded categorical fact: each species is tagged C3 (standard), C4 (heat/water-efficient) or CAM (succulent, night-time CO₂ uptake) — or a facultative combination. We only show a trait card for the noteworthy C4/CAM cases; C3 is the unremarkable majority, kept in the data but not surfaced as a card.

Kattge, J. et al. TRY plant trait database — Categorical Traits Dataset (2012).

Derived values are computed from open data by a published method — labelled, cited, and never shown as a direct observation. Full methodology →

Sources for this entry (14) Open & cited

[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)

[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)

[05] Invasive / introduced status — US-RIIS v2.0 (USGS)

[06] Wetland indicator — USACE National Wetland Plant List (2022)

[07] Photos — iNaturalist — CC, credited per image

[08] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)

[09] Foliage — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[10] Functional traits — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[11] Photosynthetic pathway — TRY Plant Trait Database (CC BY 4.0)

[12] Wildlife & visitors — GloBI — Global Biotic Interactions (CC0)

[13] Human uses — Dr. Duke's Phytochemical & Ethnobotanical Databases (USDA, CC0)

[14] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county

Spot an error or have a better photo? Every field links to its source, and the whole dataset is open.

Cite this page Open data, please attribute

PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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Ecological value

— Not scored

No host or pollinator records yet for this taxon — we don't infer a score we can't cite.

📍 In your area live

Native to the U.S.

Recorded in 2 states.

Open occurrence records place it in 3 counties across 2 states · GBIF (CC0/CC-BY)

Native — Puerto Rico

Introduced — Hawaii

Recorded in 2 states/territories

Conservation

Invasive? Native

Wetland indicator FAC

Toxicity & pet safety

Check the ASPCA pet database →

Educational, not veterinary advice. If you suspect your pet ate this plant, contact a vet or pet poison-control line.

Documented human uses Dr. Duke's

Medicinal use 47 use-records

Historically recorded for

WartDropsyOphthalmiaSoreBronchitisJaundicePurgativeRubefacientTumorAnestheticApostemeCancerCataplasmCausticChilblainCollyrium +14 more

A historical record of how this plant has been used — not medical or dietary advice, and not a claim that it is effective or safe. Many plants are toxic; never ingest or treat with a wild plant without expert guidance and a confirmed identification. Dr. Duke's →

Functional traits TRY · Dryad

Seed mass medium

22 mg

small seed — straightforward to sow

Leaf nitrogen low

11.5 mg/g

leaf nitrogen — a rough guide to compost/mulch value

Leaf build medium

Medium

mid-range leaf build (measured leaf area per weight 11.0 mm²/mg)

Leaf size very large

Very large

very large, bold leaves (measured leaf area ~600 cm²) — a coarse, dramatic texture

Deep dive — what these mean

Seed mass 22 mg — average weight of one seed. Bigger seeds are easier to hand-collect & direct-sow; dust-fine seeds need surface-sowing.

Leaf nitrogen 11.5 mg/g — measured leaf N. Higher = richer prunings for compost/mulch (a measured stand-in for "dynamic accumulator" claims).

Leaf build — how thick & tough the leaves are. Thin, lightweight leaves grow fast and crave light; thick, tough leaves last longer and shrug off shade, drought & grazing. (measured leaf area per dry weight, 11.0 mm²/mg)

Photosynthesis — the standard “C3” pathway most plants use, most active in cooler, moister, moderate-light conditions. (pathway C3)

Measured traits from TRY + Werner et al. (N-fix), Fan et al. (roots) & FungalRoot — general guidance, not species-specific prescriptions.

More modules coming

Parrotweed Bocconia frutescens

Growing & care

Wildlife & pollinators

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