Florida Trees and Shrubs

Rouge Plant - Rivina humilis
Family - Petiveriaceae

Native

Habitat - Hammocks, ruderal

Description - Native Florida shrub to near 6 feet, with only the very base being somewhat woody in nature. Leaves are alternate with distinctly wavy margins.

Flower - Clusters of pinkish-white flowers on spikes throughout the year, followed by the bright red berries.

Shiny Blueberry - Vaccinium myrsinites
Family - Ericaceae

Native

Habitat - Pinelands, Flatwoods

Description - Native shrub, 1-2 feet high, spreads from rhizomes. Leaves alternate, obovate to elliptic, leathery, 1/4 to 3/4 inches long with entire or finely serrate margins.

Flower - Small urn-shaped, pink to white in spring, 1/4 inch +/-. Fruit is a small red to black drupe.

American Beautyberry - Callicarpa americana
Family - Verbenaceae

Native

Habitat - Common to woodlands and hammocks statewide.

Description - Native perennial shrub, 6 to 8 feet tall.

Flower - Small lilac flowers in spring produce clusters of bright violet to purple 1/4 inch drupes.

Cherokee Bean, Coral Bean - Erythrina herbacea
Family - Fabaceae

Native

Habitat - Pineland clearings, coastal hammocks

Description - Native perennial tree, shrub, or sub-shrub to 16 feet in height. Leaves 7-8 inches long, alternate, compound with 3 ovate to cordate (arrowhead) shaped leaflets.

Brilliant red tubular flowers in spring and summer, 2 1/2 inches long borne on tall racemes. Fruit is a narrow pod to about 8 inches, constricted around the bright red seeds inside. Flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Indigo Bush - Amorpha fruticosa
Family - Fabaceae

Native

Habitat - Stream, creek and pond banks, wet flatwoods, floodplains of rivers, hydric hammocks.

Description - Perennial, deciduous shrub 3-10 feet high with compound leaves 4-8 inches long, each with 11 to 25 ovate to oblong leaflets, highly variable leaf shape.

Flower - Scented spike, 3-6 inches long, purplish-blue with orange anthers.

Bigflower Pawpaw - Asimina obovata
Family - Annonaceae

Native

Habitat - Flatwoods, scrub

Description - Endemic native Florida perennial shrub.

Reticulate Pawpaw - Asimina reticulata
Family - Annonaceae

Native

Habitat - Flatwoods.

Description - Florida native plant, endemic perennial shrub to about 5 feet tall, long petioles, leaf oblong to obovate, margins in-rolled.

Doctorbush - Plumbago scandens
Family - Plumbaginaceae

Native

Habitat - Hammocks, Thickets, Shell mounds, rocky areas

Description - Florida native perennial shrub or vine, leaves variable. Distinguished by the unusual stalked glands along length of flower tube ribs. Flowers year-round in S. Florida.

Lead Tree - Leucaena leucocephala
Family - Fabaceae

Invasive / Exotic

Native to the West Indies, escapes from cultivation in Florida. Shrub or small tree to about 30 feet. Leaves are alternate, bipinnately compound up to a foot long with 10-20 pairs of opposite, oblong leaflets.

Clusters of white/creamy white puff-ball type flowers 3/4 inch in diameter are followed by a flattened reddish-brown or brown pod containing several seeds.

Rattle Box, Spanish Gold - Sesbania punicea
Family - Fabaceae

Invasive / Exotic

Sprawling shrub 6-8 feet tall, often growing along ditches, creeks, ponds and other moist locations, forms dense thickets. Leaf is alternate, compound, 5-7 inches long with 7-16 pairs of 1 inch elliptical leaflets. Orange-red pea-like flowers in hanging clusters spring through early summer. Fruit is a brown legume ending in a sharp point, 3 to 4 inches long with 4 conspicuous longitudinal wings. All parts of this plant are poisonous, especially the seeds.