Gumbo Limbo
Bursera simaruba
The tourist tree of South Florida hammocks — nicknamed for coppery bark that peels in papery sheets and looks perpetually sunburned. Exceptionally wind-firm and famous for surviving hurricanes that flatten other canopies, and it roots so readily that cut branches pushed into the ground grow. Drops its leaves in the dry season, then flushes fast.
- Family
- Burseraceae
- Type
- tree
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 25–40 ft
- Spacing
- 25–30 ft apart
- Light
- sun
- Soil moisture
- dry, moist
- Soil pH
- acidic, neutral
- Bloom
- January, February, March, April
- Bloom colors
- green
- Wildlife value
- butterflies, songbirds
- Landscape uses
- specimen, naturalizing
- Native states
- FL