General Landscape Uses: Accent shrub or small tree in the Florida Keys. Also buffer plantings.
Description: Small tree or large shrub with an erect trunk and a somewhat narrow crown. Trunks 8-10 inches in diameter, but usually much less. Bark pale brown, roughend by many narrow ridges. Leaves thin, bright yellow-green, about 2- 2 1/2 inches long.
Dimensions: Typically 10-20 feet in height; to 27 feet in South Florida. Usually slightly taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Slow.
Range: Monroe County Keys and Miami-Dade County; West Indies, Mexico, Central America and South America. Very rare in the Monroe County Keys south of Upper Matecumbe Key and perhaps extirpated in the lower Keys. In Miami-Dade County, native only to the Florida Keys in and around Elliott Key in Biscayne National Park and on the mainland in Brickell Hammock, where collected once in 1906.
Habitats: Rockland hammocks.
Soils: Moist, well-drained limestone soils, with humusy top layer.
Nutritional Requirements: Moderate; can grow in nutrient poor soils, but needs some organic content to thrive.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: Moderate; generally requires moist soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.
Light Requirements: Light shade.
Flower Color: Greenish-white.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous. Dioecious, with male and female flowers on different plants.
Flowering Season: All year; peak in spring.
Fruit: Red drupe.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed.
Comments: It is listed as endangered by the state of Florida.
Robert K. –
Smarty Plants Nursery made getting this hard to find native easy to purchase.
Bruce F. –
I highly recommend this native plant.