General Landscape Uses:
Can be used as a specimen tree in wet areas, highlighting the flaky bark.
Availability:
Rarely grown by native plant nurseries.
Description: Small deciduous tree up to 50 feet tall with a short trunk and flaky grayish brown outer bark with reddish inner bark. Dark green leaves 1-4 inches long.
Dimensions: Typically 50 feet in height. As broad or broader than tall. Up to 68 feet in height in north Florida.
Growth Rate: Slow.
Range:
Southern United States south to Levy and Alachua 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.
Habitats: Floodplain forests and swamps.
Soils: Moist to wet, moderately well-drained to poorly-drained organic or sandy soils, often with acid pH.
Nutritional Requirements: High; requires rich organic soils for optimal growth.
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: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.
Light Requirements: Full sun to light shade.
Flower Color: Green.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous.
Flowering Season: Spring.
Fruit: Soft, burr-like drupe.
References: Wunderlin and Hansen (
2011), Nelson (
1994)
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.
