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Solanaceae family

Mata Buey Goetzea elegans

Native
Also known as: Beautiful Goetzea · Matabuey

Mata Buey is a perennial tree native to Puerto Rico.

More about this plant

Goetzea elegans, also called beautiful goetzea, mata buey, or matabuey, is a species of plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family of flowering plants. It is endemic to Puerto Rico. Today it is limited to the northwestern corner of the island because of deforestation and other consumption of its habitat for human use. It is federally listed as an endangered species in the island. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
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 →
✦ Bees 1 bee visitor

1 native & managed bee species is documented visiting Mata Buey :

Apis mellifera · Honey Bee
Visitor records (observations, not exhaustive) from Noori et al. 2026 (CC BY 4.0) · GloBI →
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.
Sources for this entry (12) 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 — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[07] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[08] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[09] Federal ESA status — USFWS ECOS (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
[10] Other common names — Wikidata (CC0)
[12] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county
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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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