Catesbaea melanocarpa is a rare species of flowering plant in the coffee family known by the common name tropical lilythorn.

This is a shrub which can reach three meters in height, its spreading branches lined with spines up to two centimeters long.

[1] Today the plant is reportedly rare in Antigua and its abundance and distribution in Barbuda and Guadeloupe is not well known.

[2] Its rarity in these insular areas of the United States prompted its listing as an endangered species of that country in 1999.

[2] The main threats are habitat destruction during development of residential areas and tourist destinations, fires, and any single severe event that could destroy large sections of the remaining populations, such as a hurricane.