Locustberry

Plant Name: Locustberry

Botanical Name: Byrsonima lucida

Description (growth habits, light requirements & care): A Pine Rockland flowering shrub. Good for buffer planting. Leaves leathery, about 1 1/2 inches long. Slow to moderate grower, 5-15 feet in height. Often as broad as tall or broader. Enjoys full sun to light shade. 

How you help by planting this: Provide good cover for birds and wildlife, as well as fruit. Larval Host Plant and nectar source for Florida Duskywing butterflies and Solitary Oil-Collecting Bees. The larvae of the Florida duskywing protect themselves from predators by constructing shelters of a few leaves tied together with silk. Birds eat the fruits.

Flower and Fruit (color, characteristics, season): Showy flowers all year peak spring-summer: white, pink to red once pollinated. Fruit orange to reddish brown, berry-like drupe ripen late spring-summer. Edible.

Pairs well with: Lignum Vitae, Quailberry, Golden Creeper, Thatch Palms and variety of Pine Rockland plants, as well as Swamp Milkweed, Florida Fiddlewood, and Pineland Snowberry for a diverse, wildlife-friendly garden.