Natives For Your Neighborhood
Conservation of rare plants, animals, and ecosystems

General Landscape Uses: Accent tree in residential and commerical landscapes. Buffer plantings.

Availability: Native plant nurseries.

Description: Medium tree with a rounded or narrow crown. Trunk erect, to 20 inches in diameter, bearing many willow-like branches. Bark smooth, becoming flaky. Leaves light green, thin, 2-6 inches long.

Dimensions: Typically 20-30 feet in height; to 57 feet in South Florida. Taller than broad.

Growth Rate: Moderate.

Range: Monroe County Keys north, mostly along the coasts, to Martin and Collier counties; West Indies, Mexico and Central America. 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: Hammocks.

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 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: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.

Light Requirements: Full sun.

Flower Color: Whitish-green.

Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy. Fragant.

Flowering Season: All year; peak in spring.

Fruit: Black berry.

Wildlife and Ecology: Nectar plant for Florida duskywing (Ephyriades brunneus), red-banded hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops), and other pollinators.

Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from de-pulped seed.

References: Nelson 2003

Comments: Is sometimes defoliated by caterpillars.