General Landscape Uses:
Specimen or understory tree.
Availability:
Available at native plant nurseries in northeast Florida.
Description: Deciduous tree up to 40 feet tall with finely toothed leaves 2-3.5 inches long. Leaves turning red, red-orange, and yellow in the fall. Gray bark with distinctive white stripes. Showy white flowers 1 inch wide. Edible fruit.
Dimensions: Up to 40 feet in height, often much taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Eastern North America south to the Florida Panhandle from Leon County westward. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the
Exploring Florida website.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Dry hammocks
Soils: Dry to moist, well-drained sandy soils, with or without humusy top layer.
Nutritional Requirements: Low to moderate; it can grow in nutrient poor soils or soils with some organic content.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.
Light Requirements: Light shade to full sun.
Flower Color: White
Flower Characteristics: Showy.
Flowering Season: Early spring.
Fruit: Juicy, edible red-purple berry.
Wildlife and Ecology: Provides food for birds.
Horticultural Notes: Susceptible to cedar-apple rust fungus.
References: Mellichamp (
2014), Wunderlin and Hansen 2011
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.
