General Landscape Uses: Accent or specimen or shade tree in residential and commercial landscapes.

Description: Medium to large tree with a rounded crown. Trunks erect, straight, to 20 inches in diameter. Bark light brown to brownish-gray, smooth when young, then becoming rough. Leaves compound, 6-16 inches long, shiny, orangish or reddish when young.

Dimensions: Typically 30-50 feet in height; to 63 feet in South Florida. Taller than broad.

Growth Rate: Slow to moderate.

Range: Monroe County Keys north mostly along the coasts to Brevard and Collier counties; West Indies, southern Mexico, Central America. For a digitized image of Elbert Little’s Florida range map, visit the Exploring Florida website. Little’s map fails to capture a number of locations for this in the interior of Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier County and the Monroe County mainland.

Habitats: Hammocks.

Soils: Moist, well-drained sandy or 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: High; can tolerate moderate amounts of salt wind without significant injury.

Drought Tolerance: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.

Light Requirements: Full sun.

Flower Color: Yellow to creamy white.

Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous. Dioecious, with male and female flowers on different plants.

Flowering Season: Winter-spring.

Fruit: Bright red drupe turning black when mature.

Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from de-pulped seed. Plant right away; the seeds do not store well. Stake plants when trasplanting as root development usually lags behind aboveground development.

References: Hammer 2004

Comments: The new growth is an attractive color of red.