General Landscape Uses:
Specimen or understory tree.
Availability:
Rarely grown by native plant nurseries in northern Florida.
Description: Slender deciduous tree up to 55 feet tall with gray tinged bark. Elliptic leaves 5-7 inches long turning orange or scarlet red in the fall. White urn-shaped flowers on long stalks in the spring. Leaves are vibrant red in the fall.
Dimensions: Up to 55 feet in height, usually taller than broad. Up to 83 feet in height in the Florida Panhandle.
Growth Rate: Slow.
Range:
Eastern United States south to the Florida Panhandle and north Florida from Escambia to Madison 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.
Habitats: Hammocks, bluff forests, bayheads.
Soils: Moist, well-drained sandy soils, with humusy top layer and acid pH.
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: 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 to full sun.
Flower Color: White.
Flower Characteristics: Showy.
Flowering Season: Late spring.
Fruit: Yellowish tan pods.
Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host plant for 'Summer' spring azure (Celastrina neglecta) butterfly. Provides food for wildlife.
References: Mellichamp (
2014), Wunderlin and Hansen 2011
Comments: Can be difficult to transplant and establish. Susceptible to fall webworm. 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.
