Seven-Year-Apple

Casasia clusiifolia (Jacq.) Urb.

kass-ACE-ee-ah clues-ah-FOAL-ee-ah

Rubiaceae

Explanation of name:   Genus named for Luis de las Casas, Captain General of Cuba. Clusiifolia refers to the foliage resembling that of Clusia.

Natural range:   South Florida, Caribbean

Recognition:   Tree or shrub with thick opposite leaves clustered at branch tips.  Differs from Clusia and other plants having similar leaves by having stipules.  Flowers white tinged with pink, the ovary inferior.  Fruit remaining on the tree for a year, passing through a long yellow phase before turning black, egg-shaped with pointy ends

Landscape uses:  Shrub or small tree of coastal habitats, and thus highly coastal-tolerant, the leaves clustered at branch tips. Slow-growing.  Flowers fragrant.

Internet sources: http://hort.ufl.edu/shrubs/CASCLUA.PDF  

http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/plants/florida-plants.htm

Additional reference:  Rogers, G. K. The genera of Cinchonoideae (Rubiaceae) in the Southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arb. 68: 137-183.