Satin Leaf
Chrysophyllum oliviforme
Satin Leaf is native from the Florida Keys up to Merritt Island. It is found in coastal hammocks where the soil is rich, moist, well drained and no longer salty; especially in the vicinity of Mangroves.
Satin Leaf can reach up to 50 feet in height. It can survive some cold, yet freezing temperatures may kill it to the ground. Shoots will sprout from the roots and a new leader can then be selected.
The shiny, dark green upper leaf surfaces and rusty undersides of Satin Leaf will dazzle you as they shimmer in the wind. Birds are easy to observe as they move through the evenly spaced branches while eating the olive sized fruit.
This is edible and contains enough chicle to accumulate into a ball of gum after placing several in your mouth and spitting out the pits. It has a pleasant prune flavor.
You may not want to plant this tree close to walkways as the fruit will stick to your shoes and find its way onto your white livingroom rug. You can shake the tree and most of the ripe fruit will fall and can easily be swept up.
Find a protected location to plant and mix with other hammock trees like Paradise Tree, Mastic, Lancewood, Pigeon Plum, all of the Stoppers and an understory of Wild Coffee, Marlberry, Coontie, Wild Plumbago, Beautyberry and Basket Grass.
When planting Satin Leaf, you will find that the roots have circled many times inside of the pot. Do not cut them! Just unravel the roots and place the ends inside of an extra deep hole.
Fill in carefully so that these are fully stretched and go down deep with the base of the plant at ground level.
Mix in lots of organic matter and form a ring with the extra soil around the top of the hole. This will wash in and take the place of the organic matter as it oxidizes. It also makes watering easy by preventing the water from running off.
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Rhacoma
Crossopetalum rhacoma
Rhacoma or Maidenberry is a native shrub with a fountain-like growth of arching stems, rising from a base of low growth, that may reach eight feet tall. Sometimes it grows as a low groundcover only 12 inches high. You can force this by trimming off the taller shoots.
The small red berries occur most of the year. These are eaten by birds and are not poisonous, in fact they are quite sweet.
Rhacoma is found in some of the Keys and Miami Rocklands in limerock or sand. It is not tolerant of salt air or water yet grows near the edge of salt marshes just above the high water line. Here, the wind gives it a bonsai-like shape.
It is surprisingly tolerant of soil with pea or rice gravel in it such as near a driveway or house. These gravels are made of crushed lime rock.
Maidenberry is a tough plant that grows well through Palm Beach County in full sun and rich soil. It needs a little fertilizer to look its best.
The fountain-like growth and red berries make this a good rock garden plant when mixed with low ground covers. These may include Quailberry, various Cacti, Pineland Petunia, Havana Scullcap, Melanthera pumila, Beach Alternanthera, Beach Creeper, Coontie, and Sea Purslane to name a few.
Larger plants to mix with Rhacoma include Silver Palm, Key Thatch, Florida Thatch Palm, Buccaneer Palm, Sea lavender, Joewood, Lignum Vitae, Black Torch and other shrubs of the Keys.
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Red Stopper
Eugenia rhombea
Red Stopper is a very rare shrub that grows to twelve feet over a long period of time. It is found in the upper keys in moist, rich soil and will need these conditions in the home landscape.
The plant looks very similar to White Stopper although the leaves are more round at the base, smaller, and are closer together. They also tend to lie in the same plane rather than wander about the stem the way White Stopper does.
The berries of Red Stopper go from green to yellow to orange and finally black. Birds love them and they are astringently sweet and edible. The slow growth makes this a good choice for a low shrub that will need only yearly pruning to stay below three feet.
Establishment takes a long time, so keep up with the weekly watering for about a year until the plant no longer wilts when cut off from the watering routine.
This is a great plant to mix with other low shrubs on the edge of a hammock planting. It is not salt tolerant though and should be planted well back of the dune and protected by other trees and shrubs.
Try mixing with Wild Coffee, Bahama Wild Coffee, Myrsine, Marlberry, Florida Boxwood, Spanish Stopper, RedBerry Stopper, Wild Cinnamon, Soldierwood, Crabwood, Pineland Privet, Florida Privet, Tetrazygia, Bitterbush, Blolly, The Guettardas and Black Ironwood.
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Red Mulberry
Morus rubra
Red mulberry is found in coastal and inland hammocks throughout most of Florida including Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties. It is also found in most of eastern North America. It will reach a height of 40 feet.
Salt water and direct salt air are not tolerated, yet Red Mulberry will do well when planted behind and is shielded by other coastal trees.
The flowers tend to be male or female on different trees and are wind pollinated. You don’t have to have both for fruit, but you do if you want viable seed. A few flowers may have both sexes.
The fruit turns from red to reddish black in April and May and is a favorite for migrating cedar waxwings, kids and local birds. It is sweet and can be eaten raw or in pies.
The large leaves of red mulberry drop in late fall and are replaced in early spring. They are soft and quilted and may be round with a pointed tip, three lobed or mitten shaped. The exotic Mulberries are rough to the touch.
Red Mulberry leaves are eaten by many different kinds of insects that provide food for young birds.
Although the appearance of shredded leaves and two months of bare stems in winter seems like a lot to accept, it is well worth it when young birds survive and stay in your yard. Iguanas like the leaves too, so make sure they don’t feel welcome.
The yellow roots spread out like a Ficus and should be kept away from structures. Mix Red Mulberry with Oaks, Hackberry, Florida Elm, Red Maple, or other inland trees. Coastal hammock species like Gumbo Limbo, Mastic, Pigeon Plum or Paradise Tree are also good companions. Leave it bare underneath with fallen leaves as a ground cover.
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Red Maple
Acer rubrum
Red Maple, also called Swamp Maple, may grow to over 50 feet tall in South Florida. It has a straight trunk up to two feet in diameter with colorful lichens painting the bark.
Color starts around Christmas time when the old leaves turn red, orange, yellow and purple. Shortly after leaf fall, the flower buds begin to open into pink clusters.
The seeds start out red and turn pink as they mature into one inch winged samaras which occur in pairs and form clusters. These mature by early February and are followed by young leaves that may be light green or bright red. Most leaves are four inches long and have three lobes.
Red Maple likes moist soil but can tolerate fairly dry soil once fully established. It is not tolerant of salt air or water, yet can tolerate short periods of freshwater flooding.
It naturally grows along the edge of wetlands, not in the water like Cypress or Pond Apple. Healthy older trees can tolerate some drought. It is best to have moist soil though.
Squirrels and chipmunks love to eat the ripe seeds. several squirrels may be on the tree at one time. Deer and rabbits will eat the young growth. The seeds are also tasty if roasted See this link for more info.
This is a wide ranging tree from Maine to Dade County Florida and west to Texas. Always get trees grown from local seed so that you don’t end up with a plant from a northern state that will be dormant six months of the year. In South Florida, it is bare for only four to six weeks.
Red Maple mixes with many wetland species. Trees include: Cypress, Pond Apple, Red Bay, Water Hickory, Popash, Carolina Willow, Sweetgum, Sweetbay, Loblolly Bay, Laurel Oak, Live Oak, Slash Pine, Hackberry, Florida Elm, Paurotis Palm and Florida Royal Palm.
Shrubs include: Virginia Willow, Buttonbush, Wax Myrtle, Coccoplum, Elderberry, Saw Palmetto, Myrsine, Firebush, Marlberry and Wild Coffee.
Ferns and wildflowers make a great understory. Giant Leather Fern, Swamp, Marsh, Hottentot and native Boston Ferns mixed with Yellow Canna, Pickerelweed, Duck Potato, American Crinum Lily and Thalia will produce an enchanting combination.
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Redberry Stopper
Eugenia confusa
Redberry Stopper is the most beautiful of all the stoppers. The one to two inch dark green leathery leaves have a long drip tip that makes this tree seem tropical.
It can be found naturally from the Keys to Brickell Hammock and then on Sewell’s Point in Martin county. It may not occur there anymore due to development.
This is a narrow tree that may grow to thirty feet, but is usually 20 feet or less. It fits into a tight spot near the house and mixes well with other plants. This makes a great specimen for the front yard.
The small white flowers bloom in clusters and smell sweet. The pea sized berry is bright orange, sweet and attracts many birds that seem to take turns while feeding.
Don’t worry about seedlings coming up everywhere. Few seeds germinate, and if they do, the growth is very slow at one inch per year the first to third year and just a few inches a year after that. An eight foot tree may be ten or more years old.
Soil should be full of organic matter and mixed with high grade fertilizer containing micronutrients. When planting, make sure that the roots are carefully pulled apart to upset circling roots.
Salt tolerance is low, but drought tolerance is high once fully established. Plant well back from the ocean. If you visit “Vizcaya” in Miami, you will see many of these beautiful trees in the parking area. Check out parks in the vicinity and you will find some real specimens.
Redberry Stopper is great used alone, yet it is beautiful planted with other trees and tall shrubs. These include Paradise Tree, Gumbo Limbo, Pigeon Plum, Marlberry, Simpson, Red, Spanish and White Stoppers, Soldierwood, Cinnamon Bark, Krug’s Holly, West Indian Cherry, Bahama Strongbark, Crabwood and Milkbark.
The understory can be any combination of Shiny Wild Coffee kept low, Bahama Wild Coffee, Snowberry, Beautyberry, Coontie, Beach Creeper, Key Thatch and Silver Palms, Native Plumbago and wildflowers.
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Red Bay
Persea borbonia
There are three kinds of Red Bay in Florida. The first is Scrub Red Bay or Silk Bay, Persea borbonia var. humilis. It is shown on the left and right of this picture and is found in the lower areas of scrub habitat.
This is a dense tree up to 30 feet. It occurs primarily in South and Central Florida and may have leaves with a light to dark coppery underside.
Along the coast is a tall Red Bay, Persea borbonia, with leaves that have a light green underside. It may reach a height of 50 feet.
Inland swamps contain Swamp Bay, Persea palustris. The leaves are slightly larger than the other two and are a light whitish green color underneath. All have leaves that are around four to five inches long. Red Bay and Swamp Bay occur from Delaware south through most of Florida.
Swamp Bay is the only one that requires moist soil, although it can tolerate average soil with organic matter once established. The Silk Bay shown in this picture is growing in dry soil within Juno Hills Natural Area in northern Palm Beach County. This is a rare site where scrub and coastal habitat meet.
Redbay Ambrosia Beetle-Laurel Wilt Pathogen is a new beetle pest carrying a fungal disease that kills Red Bays and Avocados. This beetle arrived here from India in 2002, hitching a ride in packing material.
Older trees die soon after the beetle bores into the trunk and spreads the fungus carried in its mouth into the sapwood. The beetle larvae feed on this fungus. Look for frass coming out of the trunk and dark brown leaves. Click for more info.
The beautiful Palamedes Swallowtail Butterfly larva feeds on young Red Bay leaves. It is important to have these trees available to them or we could lose these butterflies as well.
Although many naturally occurring Red Bays are dying from Laurel Wilt, I feel that Red Bays planted in far flung locations, such as in yards miles from the coast or natural wetlands may escape infestation. You will want to be far from Avocado trees or groves too, so as not to provide a possible pathway to these food trees.
So please don’t avoid planting Red Bays because of the possibility of this disease. We may need the seeds of your trees later, when the disease has passed through and reforestation of Red Bays commences.
The leaves of Red Bay can be used instead of commercial bay leaves in cooking. Wreaths made of them provide a pleasant aroma at Christmas time. The bark provides good support for air plants and orchids the way Live Oak does.
Try planting Red Bay instead of or with Live Oak. It looks similar, yet has a darker brown bark and larger leaves. The pea sized fruit, that looks like a small Avocado, is eaten by birds and is harmless, yet not tasty to humans. The insects found on the leaves and hidden in the bark are food for young birds. Native insects cause little noticeable damage.
Persea borbonia, which is the larger of the three, occurs along the coast back far enough to avoid much salt air and saltwater flooding. It mixes well with other coastal trees and shrubs. Try combining it with Live Oak, Paradise Tree, Pigeon Plum, Mastic, Lancewood, Sea Grape and Hackberry.
The understory can be Wild Coffee, Marlberry, Snowberry, Coontie, Spanish, White and Simpson Stopper, Boston Fern and Red Salvia.
Swamp Red Bay goes well with Red Maple, Virginia Willow, Laurel Oak, Cypress, Slash Pine, Buttonbush, Carolina Willow, Sweetbay, Giant Leather, Swamp, Marsh and Hottentot Ferns.
Silk Bay looks great with Hercules Club, Saw Palmetto, Tough Bumelia, all of the Scrub Oaks, Wild Lime, Wild Coffee, Scrub Palmetto, Necklace Pod, Blolly and other scrub species.
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Quailberry
Crossopetalum ilicifolium
Quailberry, also known as Christmasberry, is native to parts of the Keys and the Miami Rocklands. It is a low shrub of only six inches that does well throughout Palm Beach County.
Quailberry will grow into a two foot diameter mat of tiny green leaves and has bright red berries almost all year. The leaves have sharp lobes which make them look like a holly leaf.
Full sun is required, although partial shade will do. Birds eat the berries which are mildly sweet and edible. This is not a holly, but a member of the Bittersweet family. The low height and slow growth rate make this a superb groundcover.
The soil should be rich with fertilizer and organic matter to produce the most beautiful plants. We lay down a rubbery, easy to replace, weed cloth and cut a hole to place the plant in. Mulch was added last. Once established, it is very drought tolerant and will survive in nutrient poor soil, yet not look its best.
Use quailberry in a rock garden along with Lignum Vitae, Beach Creeper, Longstalk Stopper, Thatch Palms, Coontie, Chapman’s Cassia, Joewood, Rhacoma, Twinflower, Havana Scullcap and Locustberry.
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Pond Cypress
Taxodium ascendens
Pond Cypress is found from Virginia to Miami Dade County. It is similar to the Bald Cypress and may even occur with it. The leaflets of Pond Cypress tend to circle the midrib, especially the upper ones, while the leaflets of Bald Cypress are flat like a feather and are softer than Pond Cypress.
Pond Cypress has branches that are less muscular than Bald and it can grow in less fertile soil. You will often find it mixed with Slash Pine in Florida where the soil is moist yet not very fertile. It also makes up cypress domes, like the ones you see in Everglades Park. Bald Cypress likes rich soil along sloughs, rivers and lakes, like lake Okeechobee.
The leaves of both drop in the fall leaving a stark landscape during winter, yet put on soft, light green leaves in the spring. During the stark times, air plants, orchids, ferns, and other shade tolerant plants grow and store energy for the rest of the year.
The wind pollinated flowers are in racemes (catkins) with male and female found separately on each tree. These are followed by a one inch round ball that contains angular seeds coated in hard resin. The seed will only germinate in moist soil where the seedling can grow tall enough to rise above floodwaters that would drown it during the summer rains.
Some wildlife will feed on the seeds including wood ducks and squirrels, yet they aren’t a great source of wildlife food the way oaks are. What this tree does provide are branches for epiphytes to grow on and roosts for many wading birds. These birds also build nests there if a Pond Cypress is growing out in the water where raccoons can’t swim to it.
Pond Apple is another good nesting tree that can be planted out in the water of a lake or pond. You can plant a six foot tall tree of either directly in water; it is just the seedling that will drown if covered during flooding season.
Pond Cypress will grow to 20 feet in 10 years if planted in average, moist soil. It will reach 100 or more feet in good soil, yet only your great, great grandchildren will have to worry about it falling on them as we know all tall trees are prone to do. By the way, how often do you read of a tree falling on someone and killing them compared with someone being injured by slipping in a shower?
This is a great tree to completely change the texture of the landscape. As you can see in the picture, the fine brown leaves of fall and the bonsai like branches mixed with dark green Slash Pine and wetland species make one of the most interesting pictures I have.
If you are lucky to have a low wet area of the yard that most likely had cypress in it before development just replant it with an oddly spaced forest of Pond Cypress, Red Maple, Sweetbay Magnolia, Swamp Redbay, Buttonbush, Virginia Willow, Leather Fern. Duck Potato, Thalia, Prairie Iris, Yellow Canna, Swamp and Marsh Ferns and other wetland species. Why fill the depression and grow sod?
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Pineland Privet
Forestiera pinetorum
Pineland Privet is native to the Miami Rocklands and Everglades Park. This is a very drought tolerant plant that grows well thru Palm Beach County.
Plants are male and female with the males producing masses of flowers almost every month. These small white fragrant flowers attract many bees and butterflies, including Ruddy Daggerwings and Atala Hairstreaks. The bush will buzz with honeybees when in bloom, yet bees rarely sting when busy collecting nectar.
The female plants, which bloom less often, produce half inch long black fruit in early spring and late summer when the birds need them the most. These are bitter and may cause a stomach ache if many are eaten.
Use as a clipped hedge or a fluffy mass up to ten feet tall. The leaves drop briefly in the spring while the plant first flowers. If stem galling is noticed, cut off the twig below the gall with a clean tool and dip the tool in a ten percent chlorine solution between cuts.
The Pineland Privet is a must for butterfly gardens. It can be used as a ten foot tall background plant or mixed in with other tall shrubs.
Try mixing this with Bloodberry, Florida Keys Thoroughwort, Firebush, Florida Boxwood, Chapman’s Cassia, and Blackbead. Native Plumbago can be planted on the south side and allowed to form a six foot tall mass that also attracts many butterflies.
For a Rockland theme mix Pineland Privet with Southern Slash Pine, Tetrazygia, Beautyberry, Wild coffee, Marlberry, Myrsine, Guettarda scabra, Dahoon Holly, Saw Palmetto, Silver Palm, Coontie and the plants above.
If you want a one foot tall boxed hedge or edging, Pineland Privet will do well. It will, of course, produce few flowers and fruit when tortured this way.
For information about the related and similar Florida Privet click here.
