Galapagos Species Database

The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.

Varronia polycephala Lam.

Arquina, brazo de negro, maiztostado

Shrub, 5m tall, with sessile flowers and rusty brown hairs on the fruit. The lobes are short the fruit is bright red (Acevedo-Rodríguez, 1996).

Common in open areas.

Taxonomy

Domain
Eukaryota

Kingdom
Plantae

Phylum
Magnoliophyta

Class
Magnoliopsida (= Dicotyledoneae)

Order
Lamiales

Family
Boraginaceae

Genus
Varronia

Species
polycephala

Taxon category: Accepted

Syn.: Cordia polycephala (Lam.) I. Johns; Syn.: Cordia corymbosa (Desv.) G. Don

Origin: Native

Distribution

Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.

Distribution: The native range of this species is S. Mexico to Tropical America (POWO, 2023).

References

  • Adsersen, H. (1989) The Rare Plants of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador and their Conservation. Biol. Conservation 47(1): 49-77.
  • Funk, V.T. Hollowell, T., Berry, P., Kelloff, C. & Alexander, S.N. (2007) Checklist of the Plants of the Guiana Shield (Venezuela: Amazonas, Bolivar, Delta Amacuro; Guyana, Surinam, French Guiana). Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 55: 1-584.
  • Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2022) Plants of the world online POWO (2022): Plants of the world online. Published on the Internet; Https://powo.science.kew.org/
  • Tropicos.org. (2017) Database of Missouri Botanical Garden. Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden. 06 Oct 2017 <http://www.tropicos.org

You are welcome to download and use the information found in this page, acknowledging its source.

This page should be cited as follows:

"Galapagos Species Database, Varronia polycephala", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=25052. Accessed 5 June 2026.