SCHEFFLERA
Scientific name: Schefflera actinophylla
Family: Araliaceae/aralia
Origin: Northern Australia, New Guinea, Java
Description:
Evergreen tree reaching to forty feet tall, with single or multi-stemmed trunks and green bark. Leaves alternate with leaf-stalks up to two feet long; palmately compound (resembling fingers on a hand) with mostly seven-to-sixteen leaflets, shiny, light green, oblanceolate, up to twelve inches long, with margins smooth (or sparsely toothed when young). Flowers are one inch across, borne in dense clusters that form a large, red, showy inflorescence at stem tips above foliage. Fruit a purplish black, round, fleshy drupe up to 1/4 inch in diameter.
Habitat/Ecology:
Occurs in dunes, tropical hammocks, hammocks, pine scrub, and cypress swamp. Grows on a variety of substrates (i.e, boots of cabbage palm), flowering in summer and early fall, prolifically producing seeds.
SEASIDE MAHOE
Scientific name: Thespesia populnea
Family: Malvaceae/mallow
Origin: Old World Tropics
Description:
Evergreen tree up to forty feet tall, with young branches minutely brown-scaly. Leaves alternate, plain, with stalks two to four inches long; blades smooth margins, heart shaped, shiny dark green above two to eight inches long, with usually five main veins from base. Flowers showy, hibiscus-like, at base of leaf stalk, up to three inches across; corolla yellow with red center, turning maroon by nightfall; stamens united into a column shorter than petals. Fruit is a leathery, flattened-rounded, five-parted capsule, 1.5 inches wide, yellow at first turning black, remaining unopened for a time and bearing several brown hairy seeds.
Habitat/Ecology:
Occurs in mangrove communities, salt tolerant, flowers and fruits nearly year-round. Fruits and seeds are buoyant, adapted to long distance dispersal by tides and currents. Forms large dense thickets, with fruit crops continuously increasing its dense growth.
SHOE BUTTON ARDISIA
Scientific name: Ardisia elliptica
Family: Myrsinaceae/myrsine
Origin: India, China, Southeast Asia
Description:
Evergreen, large shrub or small tree reaching up to seventeen feet in height, crown narrow, rounded; branches slender, upright. Leaves alternate up to eight inches long, oblong to oval, new growth/young leaves are often pink to reddish in color. Flowers star-shaped, appear in clusters where leaf is joined to stem. Fruits are rounded, red in color turning black when ripe, with white juicy flesh.
Habitat/Ecology:
Occurs in hammocks, wetlands, tree islands in marshes, and old fields, reproduces rapidly, producing dense single-species in forest under-stories and crowding out native vegetation. Seed dispersal is aided by bird consumption of fruits.
STRAWBERRY GUAVA
Scientific name: Psidium cattleianum
Family: Myrtaceae/myrtle
Origin: Brazil
Description:
Evergreen shrub or small tree reaching up to twenty-five feet in height, with gray to reddish-brown peeling bark and young branches round, pubescent. Leaves opposite, plain, smooth margin, elliptic-oblong, three inches long. Flowers are one inch wide, singly at base of leaf stalk, with white petals and a mass of white and yellow stamens. Fruit a rounded berry, 1-2.5 inches long, green at first turning purple-red, with whitish flesh when ripe; seeds are numerous.
Habitat/Ecology:
Occurs in pine flat woods and hammocks; grows rapidly; tolerates salt and shade, produces root suckers. Flowers and fruits all year, has high seed production, early seed maturity, and seed dispersal by both birds and mammals.
Find Parks/Amenities