Gumbo Limbo
Bursera simaruba
Plant Family: Bursaeraceae
Leaves: Alternate, once-compound, with 3 to 9 ovate to elliptic leaflets with sharp pointed apices.
Bark: Copper-colored, with green undertones, flaky; smoother on some specimens.
Flowers: Small, white, in clusters along the branches; spring to summer.
Fruits: Green to reddish brown, three-sided, to 1 cm, with a single white seed inside a red fleshy covering; held in open, short clusters along the branches from fall to winter.
Habitat: Gumbo-Limbo is an important canopy tree in hammocks and is widely planted in south Florida as a very attractive ornamental.
Growth Form: Medium-sized to large tree.
Similar Species: The leaves could possibly be confused with Poisonwood (Metopium toxiferum), but the red-brown flaking bark is quite distinctive.
Comments: The bark of Gumbo Limbo is reportedly used as an herbal medicine in the Bahamas, Mexico, and Central and South America to treat skin disorders, and it is steeped to produce a tea to treat various internal maladies. The common name comes from the Spanish “goma elemi”, describing the sticky sap.
