General Landscape Uses:
Rich, shaded woodlands or as a specimen tree in an area without root disturbance. Understory tree.
Availability:
Available at native plant nurseries in northeast and central Florida.
Description: Small to medium tree to 30 feet tall. Gray, fluted bark. Shiny leaves 2-5 inches long.
Dimensions: Up to 30 feet in height.
Growth Rate: Slow.
Range:
Eastern North America south to the Brevard, Osceola, Polk, Hardee, and Manatee counties. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the
Exploring Florida website.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of suggested ZIP codes from South Florida north to southern Brevard, Osceola, Polk, and Pasco counties.
Habitats: Calcarous hammocks and floodplains
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 lonog-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: Moderate; generally requires moist soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.
Light Requirements: Shade to light shade
Flower Color: Greenish
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous flowers on conspicuous catkins 1-2 inches long.
Flowering Season: Early spring.
Fruit: Tiny brown nutlet
Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host plant for Eastern tiger swallowtail (Pterourus glaucus) and red-spotted purple (Basilarchia arthemis astyanax) butterflies. Provides food for wildlife.
Horticultural Notes: Does not tolerate root disturbance.
References: Nelson (
2003), Osorio (
2001), Nelson 1994
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.
