White stopper

Myrtus axillaris Swartz, Prodr., 78. 1788

Trees, to 10 m, slender, gla­brous, except for a few simple, appressed, coppery hairs present on buds, and ciliate margins of bracts, bracteoles, and calyx lobes. Twigs terete or com­pressed at nodes; bark gray or brown. Leaves olive or tan abaxially, drying grayish green adaxially; petiole splayed or flattened, 3–8 mm; blade ovate or elliptic, 4–8 × 2–4 cm, leathery, base cuneate or oblique, margins decurrent into splayed distal edge of petiole, apex acute to rounded, surfaces with scattered glands abaxially, glands obscure adaxially. Inflorescences 4–8-flowered, racemes, solitary or 2 superposed; axis 3–6 mm, 4-angled; bud globose, 1.5 mm; bracteoles persistent, ovate, ca. 0.5 × 0.6 mm, base usually connate and involucrate, less commonly distinct, margins ciliate, apex rounded or truncate. Pedicels 1–3 mm (relatively equal). Flowers: hypanthium cam­panulate, 0.5–1 mm; calyx lobes elliptic, in unequal pairs, larger pair ca. 1 × 1 mm, margins ciliate, apex rounded; petals elliptic, 2.5–3 × 2–2.5 mm, apex rounded; disc 0.7–1 mm diam.; stamens 30–50, 2.2–3.5 mm; style 3–4.5 mm. Berries purplish black, globose or oblate, 5.5–9 × 5.5–7 mm; calyx persistent, not prominent.

Flowering and fruiting year-round. Coastal hammocks; 0–20 m; Fla.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America.

Eugenia axillaris is known in the flora area from the central and southern peninsula.

The Seminoles used Eugenia axillaris for making bows (D. F. Austin 2004).