Everglades Velvetseed
Guettarda elliptica
Plant Family: Rubiaceae
Leaves: Opposite, simple, to 6 cm, the shape varies from ovate to obovate to elliptic, apices pointed or sometimes notched, soft hairy to the touch, the veins curve to follow the leaf edges.
Bark: Light mottled gray, smooth, often with multiple trunks.
Flowers: Small, cream-colored to pink, with four petals, in sparse clusters in the leaf axils; appearing from spring into summer.
Fruits: A green drupe, ripening to red- purple, downy, in flat clusters in the leaf axils, edible, if not palatable, best left to the birds! Seen late summer into fall.
Habitat: Hammocks and pinelands, limestone soils.
Growth Form: A shrub in the pinelands, a small tree in hammocks.
Similar Species: Rough Velvetseed (Guettarda scabra) has larger, broadly elliptic, rough-textured leaves, and it attains medium-sized tree height, typically larger than this species.
Comments: Everglades Velvetseed ranges from south Florida through the West Indies to Central and South America.
