General Landscape Uses: A versatile and attractive shrub or small tree. It can be used as an accent, as a clipped shrub, and in naturalistic landscapes. It also makes a great addition to mixed buffer plantings.
Ecological Restoration Notes: A relatively common element of coastal hammock margins and thickets.
Description: Small tree or large columnar shrub usually with a dense rounded crown from several slim, erect trunks and small erect branches. Bark light reddish-brown, thin, smooth when young, then divided into small, thick scales forming concentric rings around the trunk of older trees. Leaves abundant and persistant, leathery, 3/4 to 1 1/2 inches long.
Dimensions: Typically 8-15 feet in height. Taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Moderate to slow.
Range: Monroe County Keys north mostly along the coast to Brevard and Manatee counties; West Indies, Mexico and Central America.
Habitats: Hammocks and hammock edges; coastal thickets.
Soils: Moist, well-drained sandy or limestone soils, with humusy top layer.
Nutritional Requirements: Moderate to high; grows best with some organic content and may languish in nutrient poor soils.
Salt Water Tolerance: Moderately low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water, but tolerates short term inunation by salt water from storm surge with minimal damage.
Salt Wind Tolerance: High; can tolerate moderate amounts of salt wind without significant injury.
Drought Tolerance: Moderate; generally requires moist soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun to light shade.
Flower Color: White.
Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy.
Flowering Season: All year; peak in summer.
Fruit: Black or brown berry.
Wildlife and Ecology: Provides food and cover for wildlife. Attracts bee pollinators and fruit-eating birds.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from de-pulped seed. Place in light shade. Germination usually occurs within 1 month.
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