General Landscape Uses:
Shade tree, understory tree.
Availability:
Commonly available at native plant nurseries in central Florida. Available at native plant nurseries in northeast Florida.
Description: Deciduous tree 50-90 feet tall with shiny green leaves 2-6 inches long. Showy white flowers in drooping clusters in early spring. Fruit is a shiny red drupe maturing to purplish black.
Dimensions: Typically 50-90 feet in height, taller than broad. Up to 123 feet in height in north Florida.
Growth Rate: Fast.
Range:
Eastern half of the United State from Maine to North Dakota southwest to Arizona and south to Manatee and De Soto 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.
Map of ZIP codes with habitat recommendations from the Monroe County Keys north to Martin and Charlotte counties.
Habitats: River swamps and disturbed sites.
Soils: Moist to wet, moderately well-drained to poorly-drained sandy, calcareous or organic soils, with or without 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 long-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 to low; requires moist to wet 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: Early spring.
Fruit: Reddish drupe maturing to purplish black.
Wildlife and Ecology: Attracts pollinators. Attracts pollinators. Provides food for wildlife. Host plant for many butterflies including the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Pterourus glaucus), red-spotted purple (Basilarchia arthemis astyanax) and Coral Hairstreak (Harkenclenus titus) butterflies.
Horticultural Notes: Susceptible to disfiguring by tent caterpillars in the spring.
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.
