Bucida molinetii (G. Maza) Alain
Black olive, spiny black olive, Ming tree, dwarf geometry tree, spiny bucida
Spiny black olive has a spiny trunk, but it doesn’t produce olives. It is a good candidate for bonsai. Among its curious common names is “dwarf geometry tree,” because of its much larger relative, Bucida buceras. It is native to the Caribbean, and may be native as well to southern Florida. The currently accepted scientific name is Terminalia molinetii M. Gómez.
Identification: Leaves are Flowers are
Plants: Spiny black olive is small tree, rarely exceeding 4′ (1.2 m) in height, with branches that extend horizontally so they are often wider than the tree is high. The branches form dense whorls around the trunk.
Leaves: About ¼″ (6.3 mm) long, obovate or narrowly obovate, with cuneate bases, bronze-colored at first, aging to light green.
Flowers: Yellow and inconspicuous.
Fruits: Cluster of ovoid one-seeded brown drupes are not olives. Each drupe is 1/16–3/16 ⨉ 1/16–⅛″ (3–6 ⨉ 2–3.5 mm).
Habitats: Rocky thickets and woodlands, low hammocks, and pineland margins.
Online References:
Bucida spinosa Jennings
Bonsai. · 12/12/2016 · Bonsai West, Littleton, Massachusetts · ≈ 12 × 10″ (30 × 25 cm) 
Bonsai. · 12/12/2016 · Bonsai West, Littleton, Massachusetts · ≈ 1 × 1′ (35 × 33 cm) 
Bonsai. · 12/12/2016 · Bonsai West, Littleton, Massachusetts · ≈ 10 × 12″ (26 × 31 cm) 
Bonsai. · 12/12/2016 · Bonsai West, Littleton, Massachusetts · ≈ 12 × 10″ (30 × 26 cm) 
Bonsai. · 12/12/2016 · Bonsai West, Littleton, Massachusetts · ≈ 1 × 1½′ (34 × 46 cm) 
Bonsai. · 12/12/2016 · Bonsai West, Littleton, Massachusetts · ≈ 1 × 1½′ (34 × 46 cm) 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Rosidae | Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more |
| Order | Myrtales | Includes myrtles, leadwoods, loosestrifes, pomegranates, evening primroses, many others |
| Family | Combretaceae | Various trees, shrubs and lianas, including leadwood, other tropical and subtropical plants |
| Genus | Bucida | Latin for “ox-horn,” a name for a horn-shaped gall created by some species of mite |
| Species | molinetii |
Bucida molinetii description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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