Braceletwood

Jacquinia armillaris Jacquin var. arborea (Vahl) Grisebach

Shrubs or trees to 5 m; twigs grayish brown, lepidote when young, glabrescent. Stems gray, nearly smooth. Leaves usually distinctly pseudoverticillate; petiole to 7 mm, glabrous or sparsely puberulous; blade 3-8(-12) × 1.5-4(-5) cm, coriaceous, margins slightly revolute, apex rounded or retuse, mucronate or mucro absent. Racemes 7-25(-40)-flowered, to 6(-12) cm, commonly exceeding leaves. Pedicels 7-13 mm; bracts lanceolate, 1-1.5 mm. Flowers: sepals 2.2-3.2 mm, margins entire or slightly erose; petals 7-9 mm, lobes ca. as long as or slightly shorter than tube; stamens shorter than staminodes; staminodes oblong to ovate, 1.8-3 × 2-3 mm, apex rounded or retuse. Berries orange-red or red, 7-11 mm diam., pericarp smooth. Seeds light brown, 3-5 mm.

Flowering winter-spring. Coastal strands, disturbed sites, mangrove forest edges; 0-10 m; introduced; Fla.; Mexico; West Indies (Jamaica, Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico); Central America (Honduras).

Cultivated and escaped in Florida, Jacquinia arborea is occasional in disurbed coastal communities of Broward and Miami-Dade counties and the Monroe County keys.