Landscape Uses:
	Accent shrub or tree. Buffer plantings.
Ecological Restoration Notes:
	A common shrub along hammock ecotones, especially along the coast. It can be used sparingly as an understory shrub in pine rocklands, but pine rockland germ plasm is recommended.
Availability:
	Widely cultivated. Available in Lake Worth at Indian Trails Native Nursery (561-641-9488) and at  Amelia's SmartyPlants (561-540-6296), in Boynton Beach at Sustainscape (561-245-5305), and in Fort Myers at All Native Garden Center (239-939-9663).
Description:
	Large shrub or small tree with a dense, irregular crown composed of many small trunks from crooked trunks. Bark pale or creamy, thin, smooth with many breathing pores (lenticels). Leaves dark green above, 3/4-2 inches long. Semi-deciduous, with the old leaves falling as the new flush of growth begins.
Height:
	Typically 8-15 feet in height in South Florida; to 17.5 feet in Florida. Often as broad as tall.
Growth Rate:
	Moderate to fast.
Range:
	Southeastern United States south to the Monroe County Keys; Bermuda and the West Indies. Very rare and scattered in the Monroe County Keys. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the Exploring Florida website.
Habitats:
	Hammocks and hammock edges; understory shrub in pine rocklands.
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:
	Yellowish-green.
Flower Characteristics:
	Semi-showy, in small clusters from the axils of the previous year's growth. Dioecious, with male and female flowers on different plants, or polygamodioecious, with a few flowers of the opposite sex or bisexual flowers on the same plant.
Flowering Season:
	All year; peak in spring.
Fruit:
	Black or dark purple drupe.
Wildlife and Ecology:
	Provides significant food and cover for wildlife. Attracts bee pollinators and birds eat the fruits.
Horticultural Notes:
	Can be grown from de-pulped seed. Cover with soil and place in full sun.
Comments:
	This fast growing shrub recruits readily in the garden from seed. Taxomomy: plants with smaller leaves growing in the pine rocklands of Miami-Dade County have been described as a distinct species, F. pinetorum, or variety, F. segregata var. pinetorum. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's Flower Friday page.