Seven Year Apple

This evergreen shrub or small tree is one of Florida’s most exceptional native, salt-tolerant plants (Fig. 1). It grows up to the first dune near the ocean. The beautiful, glossy, leathery foliage is clustered near the branch tips. The Seven Year Apple has axillary clusters of white, pink-tipped flowers that emerge in the spring and early summer. These flowers are approximately 1-inch long and have a very sweet, heavy fragrance. Seven-Year Apple has large lemon-shaped fruits that may persist for more than a year. The fruits are green when they first appear and gradually turn yellow and ripen in about one year. Yellow fruits then turn black and become wrinkled. The dark brown pulp inside the black fruits is edible but is filled with many seeds and taste like licorice. This pulp is very appealing to the Mockingbirds, and they hollow out the ripe fruits and leave the empty skins hanging on the plant.