Landscape Uses:
	Spiny barrier plantings along the coast.
Ecological Restoration Notes:
Availability:
	Rarely grown by native plant nurseries.
Description:
	Small tree or large shrub with a rounded crown. Trunks short, to 8 inches in diameter, bearing many irregular branches. Branches armed with 1 inch long thorns. Bark blackish, deeply furrrowed and broken into small regular squares. Leaves generally less than 1 inch long, in dense clusters, bluish or dull green above.
Height:
	Typically 10-15 feet in height; to 29 feet in South Florida. Often as broad as tall.
Growth Rate:
	Moderate.
Range:
	Monroe County Keys north to Brevard and Levy counties; Bahamas and Cuba. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the Exploring Florida website.
Habitats:
	Coastal berms and margins of tidal swamps and marshes.
Soils:
	Moist to periodically wet, moderately well-drained to poorly-drained brackish soils, with humusy top layer.
Nutritional Requirements:
	Moderate; can grow in nutrient poor soils, but needs some organic content to thrive.
Salt Water Tolerance:
	Moderate; tolerates brackish water or occasional inundation by salt 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:
	Light shade.
Flower Color:
	Creamy-white.
Flower Characteristics:
	Inconspicuous.
Flowering Season:
	All year.
Fruit:
	Black berry. Edible and sweet.
Wildlife and Ecology:
Horticultural Notes:
	Can be grown from seed.
Comments: