Eugenia uniflora

Non-Native to Florida

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Eugenia uniflora is occasionally found growing in disturbed hammocks in the central and southern peninsula of Florida. It is native to South America but escaped from cultivation. Surinam cherry blooms all year (Wunderlin, 2003).

Appearance: Evergreen, multibranched shrub or small tree to 10 m (30 ft) tall, usually shrub size in Florida; young stems often with red hairs and dark red new foliage.

Leaves: Opposite, simple, short petioled, oval to lance shaped, 2.5 – 8 cm (1–3 in) long, shiny dark green above, paler below; margins entire.

Flowers: White, fragrant, about 13 mm (0.5 in) across, with many stamens; occurring solitary or in clusters of 2 or 3 at leaf axils.

Fruit: A fleshy, juicy, orange-red berry to 4 cm (1.5 in) wide, depressed-globose, conspicuously 8-ribbed, with 1-3 seeds.

Text from Invasive and Non-Native Plants You Should Know, Recognition Cards, by A. Richard and V. Ramey, 2007. UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, Publ. No. SP 431.

Download the Recognition Card (PDF 484 KB).

 

See more information and pictures about Surinam cherry, as contained in the Langeland/Burks book, Identification & Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas.

View the UF/IFAS Assessment, which lists plants according to their invasive status in Florida.

See the herbarium specimen image of the University of Florida Herbarium Digital Imaging Projects.