General Landscape Uses:
Specimen tree, street tree.
Availability:
Widely available in central Florida. Commonly available at native plant nurseries in northeast Florida.
Description: Small deciduous tree or shrub up to 18 feet tall with elliptic, lobed leaves 1-4 inches long. Showy white flowers appear before the leaves.
Dimensions: Typically 18 feet in height, broader than tall. Up to 26 feet in height in central Florida.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Southern United States south to Sarasota, De Soto, Highlands, and Martin 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: Pine and hardwood woodlands.
Soils: Moist to dry, 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 long-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: Full sun.
Flower Color: White.
Flower Characteristics: Showy.
Flowering Season: Spring.
Fruit: Red or yellow drupe maturing to purple.
Wildlife and Ecology: Provides significant food and cover for wildlife. Nectar plant for butterflies and other pollinators.
References: Huegel (
2010), Schaefer & Tanner 1997, Nelson 2003
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. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's
Flower Friday page.
