Long-Stalked Stopper, Mangroveberry, Bahama Stopper

Mosiera longipes (O. Berg.) Small

moas-ee-AIR-ah  LONJ-ah-peas

Myrtaceae

Explanation of name: Generic name presumably in honor of Charles Mosier (d. 1936), colleague of John Kunkel Small (Harvard University Herbaria Index of Botanists). Longipes means having a long stalk.

Synonyms: Psidium longipes (O. Berg) McVaugh (WU2)

Natural range: Tropical hammocks and rocky pinelands of South Florida

Recognition: Low shrub to small tree. Leaves very glossy, ovate to oval, opposite, about ½” long and ¾” wide, simple and entire, having reddish veins. Four-petaled flowers are numerous, white to pink with white stamens on long stalks. Fruits are small, black with many seeds. They look like blueberries.

Landscape uses: Ground cover. No maintenance required.

Propagation by seeds sown as soon as the fruits ripen.

Notes: Usually low-spreading shrub and kept shrubby in the pinelands by fire. Tomlinson says it is a “characteristic element of the pineland flora, usually as a straggling, much-branched shrub, rarely a small tree” (TOM). Listed as threatened in the Preservation of Native Flora of Florida Act.

Internet source: http://miami-dade.ifas.ufl.edu/lawn_and_garden/fyn_pub_native_plantslist_shrubs_small_treesDO.shtml