ABSTRACT
Several of the names for the fruit include allusions to colors and medicinal uses and mention that birds feed on them. These are bonbon codine (codine candy, Haiti), bonbon coq d’Inde (rooster candy, Haiti), coqueta (flirt, Belize), fowl berry (Cayman Islands), hierbe à charpentier (woodpecker [carpenter’s] herb, French Antilles), hierba de los carpinteros [yerba de los carpinteros] (woodpecker [carpenter’s] herb, El Salvador), hierba [herba, yierba] mora (blackberry herb, Nicaragua), mata gallina (chicken killer, Dominican Republic), ojo de ratón (rat’s eye, Cuba), and pigeonberry (Arizona, Texas, Sonora). A large variety of birds eat the fruits with impunity. Among the birds feeding on the berries in Florida and Texas are turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo), chachalacas (Ortails vetula), mourning doves (Zenaida macroura), white-winged doves (Zenaida asiatica), mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos), catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis), and robins (Turdus migratorius) (Texas A&M 2000).
