FAMILY: MYRSINACEAE (alternatively, PRIMULACEAE)
ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: hen's eyes, coral ardisia, spice berry, coral berry, scratchthroat
LEAVES: persistent, simple, elliptic or lanceolate, to 6” long, thick and waxy, margins crenate and bearing calluses harboring a N-fixing bacterium
FLOWER: inflorescences in cymes or umbels, born at tips of older branches below the main leaf-bearing branches
FRUIT: showy dark red drupes to 0.3” broad, tending to persist on plant into the following season
TWIGS: glabrous (smooth) throughout
BARK:
FORM: evergreen shrub to ca. 6’ tall
HABITAT: rich slopes and ravines along small streams, mesic hardwood flatwoods, high sites in bottomland hardwood forests
WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative (FAC): Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
RANGE: exotic from east Asia; introduced in US in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Hawaii [Global Range Map] [County Range Map]
USES: ornamental (ill-advised – this species readily escapes into adjacent forests)
Best Recognition Features:
- glossy evergreen shrub to about head-high
- hick waxy elliptic leaves with crenate margins
- unique branching architecture
- showy red persistent drupes
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