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Excerpts from Jim Conrad's
Naturalist Newsletter
from the June 22, 2007 Newsletter issued from Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, QUERÉTARO, MÉXICO
RAPANEA FERRUGINEA
At the risk of over-treeing you, I have to mention one more small tree that really caught my eye while hiking through the upland juniper forest. When you see its picture you'll understand why. It's below:
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The excellent thing about this 10-ft-tall tree is that its fruits, which have the size, color and wrinkledness of store-bought peppercorns, cluster abundantly and closely along the stems. The only other tree I know to do this is the US Southeast's Waxmyrtle, which belongs to an entirely different family.
The plant in the picture is RAPANEA FERRUGINEA, a member of the Myrsine Family, a not-much-known family restricted to the tropics and subtropics. Apparently it has no common English name.