General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Ecological Restoration Notes: An occasional element of the ecotone between tidal swamps and rockland hammocks in the Florida Keys. Rare elsewhere.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts and occasionally by native plant nurseries.
Description: Medium to large shrub or rarely a small tree with a round-topped crown. Trunks usually short. Bark thin, gray. Leaves flat and fleshy, pale green.
Dimensions: Usually 3-10 feet in height; to 18 feet in South Florida. Often as broad as tall.
Growth Rate: Slow.
Range:
Monroe and Miami-Dade counties north along the west coast to Levy County; Texas, Bahamas, Cuba and Mexico. 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 ZIP codes with habitat recommendations from the Monroe County Keys north to Martin and Charlotte counties.
Habitats: Margins of coastal hammocks along the ecotone with mangrove swamps and salt marshes.
Soils: Moist to periodically inundated, brackish 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: 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: Full sun to light shade.
Flower Color: Green.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous.
Flowering Season: Spring-summer.
Fruit: Orangish capsule with 4 seeds enclosed in a bright red aril.
References: Hammer 2004
Comments: It is listed as threatened by the state of Florida.
