Trees, to 10 m, slender, gla­brous, except for a few simple, appressed, coppery hairs present on buds, and ciliate margins of bracts, bracteoles, and calyx lobes. Twigs terete or com­pressed at nodes; bark gray or brown. Leaves olive or tan abaxially, drying grayish green adaxially; petiole splayed or flattened, 3–8 mm; blade ovate or elliptic, 4–8 × 2–4 cm, leathery, base cuneate or oblique, margins decurrent into splayed distal edge of petiole, apex acute to rounded, surfaces with scattered glands abaxially, glands obscure adaxially. Inflorescences 4–8-flowered, racemes, solitary or 2 superposed; axis 3–6 mm, 4-angled; bud globose, 1.5 mm; bracteoles persistent, ovate, ca. 0.5 × 0.6 mm, base usually connate and involucrate, less commonly distinct, margins ciliate, apex rounded or truncate. Pedicels 1–3 mm (relatively equal). Flowers: hypanthium cam­panulate, 0.5–1 mm; calyx lobes elliptic, in unequal pairs, larger pair ca. 1 × 1 mm, margins ciliate, apex rounded; petals elliptic, 2.5–3 × 2–2.5 mm, apex rounded; disc 0.7–1 mm diam.; stamens 30–50, 2.2–3.5 mm; style 3–4.5 mm. Berries purplish black, globose or oblate, 5.5–9 × 5.5–7 mm; calyx persistent, not prominent.

Phenology: Flowering and fruiting year-round.
Habitat: Coastal hammocks.
Elevation: 0–20 m.

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

Fla., Mexico, West Indies, Central America.

Discussion

Eugenia axillaris is known in the flora area from the central and southern peninsula.

The Seminoles used Eugenia axillaris for making bows (D. F. Austin 2004).

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.