Twinberry, Simpson’s stopper

Myrtus fragrans Swartz, Prodr., 79. 1788, name conserved; Anamomis fragrans (Swartz) Grisebach; A. punctata (Vahl) Grisebach; A. simpsonii Small; Eugenia fragrans (Swartz) Willdenow; E. punctata Vahl; E. simpsonii (Small) Sargent; Myrcianthes fragrans subsp. simpsonii (Small) A. E. Murray; M. fragrans var. simpsonii (Small) R. W. Long; M. simpsonii (Small) K. A. Wilson

Trees or shrubs to 20 m; bark reddish brown, smooth, exfoliating; twigs terete or compressed, becoming glabrate; young growth sparsely to densely appressed-pubescent, hairs cinereous or white, 0.2–0.4 mm. Leaves: petiole 2.5–10 mm, sericeous or glabrate; blade concolorous or paler abaxially, drying olive or tan, elliptic to obovate, 2–9 × 1.7–3 cm, leathery, base cuneate or narrowly so, decurrent into petiole, margins flat or revolute basally, apex acuminate to bluntly acute or rounded, or tip retuse, surfaces with numerous small glands, glabrate or hairs scattered, appressed, usually persistent along adaxial midvein. Peduncles 20–60 × 1–2 mm, compressed. Inflorescences sericeous to glabrate; bracts and bracteoles caducous, linear, 2–4 mm. Pedicels of lateral flowers 3–10 mm, compressed. Flowers: hypanthium 2–3 mm, coarsely sericeous; calyx lobes deltate to widely ovate, 1.5–2.2 × 1.3–2 mm, apex bluntly acute or rounded, surfaces becoming glabrate abaxially, persistently sericeous adaxially; petals oblong or obovate, 3.5–5 × 3.5–5 mm, convex, margins ciliate, apex rounded; disc round or quadrate, 3–4 mm diam., staminal ring usually pubescent; stamens 3–9 mm; style 4–8 mm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Berries 6–15 × 6–15 mm.

Flowering and fruiting year-round. Hammocks; 0 m; Fla.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela).

Myrcianthes fragrans is known in the flora area from St. Johns County and the central and southern peninsula.

Myrcianthes fragrans occurs in moist and wet forests at elevations (outside of the flora area) to 1500 m. Throughout its range, the species displays significant, but inconsistent, local variation in the degree of vestiture of the young twigs, inflorescences and flowers, and in the size and shape of the leaves. R. W. Long and O. Lakela (1971) recognized the more robust trees with buttressed base and more floriferous inflorescences (10–14 flowers) as var. simpsonii.

Myrcianthes fragrans is listed as threatened in Florida, due to habitat destruction.