General Landscape Uses:
Profusely flowering specimen tree.
Availability:
Commonly available at native plant nurseries in central Florida. Available at native plant nurseries in northeast Florida.
Description: Small deciduous tree or shrub 6-25 feet tall with an irregular, open crown of crooked branches. Bark is reddish and scaly. Glossy green leaves 1-2 inches long, turning reddish in the fall.
Dimensions: Typically 6-25 feet in height, somewhat taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Slow.
Range:
Southern United States south to Lee, Hendry, and Martin counties. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the Exploring Florida website.
Soils: Moist to dry, well-drained sandy soils with acid pH, with or without humus.
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: Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.
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: Showy.
Flowering Season: Spring.
Fruit: Rounded, black, shiny drupe.
Wildlife and Ecology: Provides significant food and cover for wildlife. Nectar plant for butterflies and other pollinators. Larval host for striped hairstreak (Satyrium liparops) butterfly.
Comments: We have been adding data for this species for central and northern Florida and welcome any feedback or review. If you would like to contribute information or images, please contact George Gann via the IRC staff page. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's Flower Friday page.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
