White Ironwood
Hypelate trifoliata
White Ironwood is a very rare shrub or small tree found in the Florida Keys and Everglades Park. It can be used in landscaping up to Palm Beach County if planted in rich soil. I am not sure of its salt tolerance but imagine it needs to be protected.
This makes a nice rounded hedge or specimen tree up to 35 feet tall which has unusual trifoliate leaves that are dark green and have an airy look to them. The small white flowers bloom in summer and are followed by pea sized, one seeded black berries that birds love.
This is in the same family (Sapindaceae), as Lychee, Ackee and Longam. No literature mentions its edibility, yet I suspect the fruit is edible, but not the seed.
White Ironwood can be mixed with most hammock species. The twigs tend to be covered with lobate lac scale and may need to be sprayed with Organocide or some other scale killing organic spray. This is true for many of our shrubs and trees now.
For a small space near a patio or pool, this makes a great evergreen specimen tree that produces only moderate amounts of small black fruit and stays low enough for easy maintenance.
A mixed hedge would include White Ironwood, Wild Coffee, Bahama Wild Coffee, Marlberry, Myrsine, Randia, Florida Boxwood, West Indian Lilac, Cinnamon Bark, Firebush, Pavonia, Pineland Privet, Jamaica Caper and the Stoppers. I don’t mix Cocoplum with other shrubs because it crowds the other plants out.