General Landscape Uses: |
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Accent shrub or small tree. |
Ecological Restoration Notes: |
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A shrub along hammock especially along the coast. |
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Description: |
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Large shrub or small tree with a dense, irregular crown composed of many small trunks from crooked trunks. Bark pale or creamy, thin, smooth with many breathing pores (lenticels). Leaves dark green above, 3/4-2 inches long. Semi-deciduous, with the old leaves falling as the new flush of growth begins. |
Dimensions: |
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Typically 8-15 feet in height in South Florida; to 17.5 feet in Florida. Often as broad as tall. |
Growth Rate: |
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Moderate to fast. |
Range: |
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Southeastern United States south to the Monroe County Keys; Bermuda and the West Indies. Very rare and scattered in the Monroe County Keys. |
Habitats: |
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Hammocks and hammock edges; understory shrub in pine rocklands. |
Soils: |
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Moist, well-drained sandy or limestone soils, with humusy top layer. |
Nutritional Requirements: |
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Moderate; can grow in nutrient poor soils, but needs some organic content to thrive. |
Salt Water Tolerance: |
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Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water. |
Salt Wind Tolerance: |
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High; can tolerate moderate amounts of salt wind without injury. |
Drought Tolerance: |
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High; does not require any supplemental water once established. |
Light Requirements: |
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Full sun. |
Flower Color: |
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Yellowish-green. |
Flower Characteristics: |
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Semi-showy, in small clusters from the axils of the previous year's growth. Dioecious, with male and female flowers on different plants, or polygamodioecious, with a few flowers of the opposite sex or bisexual flowers on the same plant. |
Flowering Season: |
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All year; peak in spring. |
Fruit: |
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Black or dark purple drupe. |
Wildlife and Ecology: |
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Provides significant food and cover for wildlife. Birds eat the fruits. |
Horticultural Notes: |
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Can be grown from de-pulped seed. Cover with soil and place in full sun. |
Comments: |
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This shrub grow readily in the garden from seed. Synonyms: plants with smaller leaves growing in the pine rocklands of Miami-Dade County have been described as a distinct species, F. pinetorum, or variety, F. segregata var. pinetorum. |