Syzygium cumini

Non-Native to Florida

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Syzygium cumini is found growing in distubed hammocks of the central and southern peninsula of Florida. It is native to the Indo-Malayan region but escaped from cultivation. It blooms all year and is equally likely to occur in wetlands or non-wetlands.

Appearance: Evergreen tree to 25 m (80 ft) tall, with young stems grayish white and lower bark coarse and discolored.

Leaves: Opposite, simple, entire, elliptic to broadly oblong, smooth, glossy, somewhat leathery, 5–10 cm (2–5 in) long, short pointed at tips; petioles to 3 cm (1.2 in) long. Leaf midrib prominent, yellowish; blades with many lateral veins closely parallel.

Flowers: White to pinkish, about 1 cm (0.5 in) across, in branched clusters at stem tips; calyx cuplike; 4 petals, fused into a cap; many stamens.

Fruit: An ovoid, 1-seeded berry to 2 cm (0.8 in) long, dark purplish red, shiny, with white to lavender flesh.

Ecological threat: Forms dense canopies that shade out young native trees in wet pinelands, hammocks, and well drained uplands. FLEPPC Category I

Distribution: C, SW, SE

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 498 KB).

 

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

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

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