Family: Juglandaceae
Group: Dicot
Substrate:
Terrestrial
Habit:
Tree
Perennation:
Perennial
Native Range: Endemic to peninsular Florida, from Volusia, Marion and Lake counties south to Miami-Dade, Highlands and Charlotte counties.
Map of Florida Locations
Florida Natural Areas Inventory State Status:
SNR
IRC SOUTH FLORIDA Status:
Critically Imperiled
SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence:
Present
SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status:
Native
South Florida History and Distribution: A small tree or large shrub found in dry soils primarily in Martin and northeastern Palm Beach counties. Also collected by Charles Torrey Simpson in Miami-Dade County east of what is now downtown South Miami in 1919 (
s.n. NY,
s.n. NY), and one mile south of Coconut Grove by John Kunkel Small and colleagues in 1924 (
11161 NY); vouchered by Charles Torrey Simpson from just north of the Hillsboro River in northern Broward County in 1920 (
s.n. NY); and, collected in eastern Charlotte County by Olga Lakela and Robert W. Long in 1965 (
28255 USF). The east of South Miami (from "Old Larkin" = ~Cocoplum Circle) and south of Coconut Grove collections represent the same population, and localities perhaps one mile apart. Although Simpson commented in a letter to John Kunkel Small that the plant he vouchered could have been planted, the size of it (40-50 feet tall with one trunk as big as his body) suggests it predated pioneer settlement.
Ranked as imperiled in Rare Plants of South Florida (Gann et al. 2002), this was reranked as critically imperiled using updated NatureServe criteria in 2025.
SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status:
Cultivated
Comments: Visit our
Natives For Your Neighborhood website for more information and images. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the
Exploring Florida website. Although Little’s inclusion of northern Glades County has not been verified, it seems probable given its proximity to nearby populations in southern Highlands County and available habitat.
