Blolly
Guapira discolor
Blolly has evergreen two inch oval leaves that are light green. It makes a beautiful specimen tree up to 25 feet tall, especially when full of clustered red berries in late summer. These are edible, see link below.
Birds love these and won’t leave the tree alone until the fruit are gone. The endangered, native, white crowned pigeon is attracted to fruiting trees in the Keys. The flowers are dioecious, or male on one tree and female on the other, so it is necessary to plant several near each other for the bees to pollinate the flowers and fruit to set.
A group of three to five planted two feet apart will make a nice multitrunked specimen tree. Leave one male and keep the fruiting females for maximum effect.
Blolly is tolerant of salt spray but not salt water. It grows naturally along the coast from the Keys to Brevard County. It even makes a great hedge when trimmed back once a year, yet please don’t sheer it into a box or there will be few fruit.
Soil should be deep and moderately fertile with organic matter. Blolly tends to root near the surface and may lean if exposed to too much wind or if planted in shallow soil.
Plant Blolly with other coastal trees like Gumbo Limbo, Black Ironwood, Crabwood, Spanish Stopper, Simpson Stopper, Jamaica Caper and use Wild Coffee, Snowberry, Coontie, Bahama Wild Coffee and Native Ferns as ground covers.