Shoebutton ardisia

Shrubs, not stoloniferous , 1-2 m; branchlets conspicuously black punctate-lineate, glabrous. Leaves: petiole 5-10 mm, glabrous; blade oblanceolate or obovate, 6-12(-16) × 3-5(-7) cm, margins entire, revolute, (without vascularized nodules), apex obtuse or acute, surfaces glabrous. Inflorescences lateral or subterminal, on basally thickened lateral branches, subumbels or umbels, 5+-flowered. Pedicels erect, ca. 1-2 cm, glabrous. Flowers: sepals 5, broadly ovate, ca. 1 mm, margins subentire, (minutely ciliate), apex rounded, densely black-punctate, glabrous; petals 5, pink or white, broadly ovate, 6-8 mm, margins entire, (hyaline, scarious), apex long-acuminate, densely punctate, glabrous; stamens subequaling petals; anthers linear-lanceolate, transversely septate-lobed, apex apiculate, punctate abaxially; ovary pellucid-punctate, glabrous; ovules 5+, multiseriate. Drupes red or purplish black, subglobose, ca. 8 mm diam., minutely punctate. 2n = 48.

Flowering Feb-Apr; fruiting Sep-Nov. Roadsides, scrub, near villages, edges of fields, along coasts; 0-20 m; introduced; Fla.; pantropical.

The names Ardisia solanacea Roxburgh and A. polycephala Wight have been misapplied to specimens of A. elliptica, which escapes from cultivation and is invasive.