PlantFiles: Shoebutton Ardisia
Ardisia elliptica

I garden in Maine, so my Ardisia elliptica is strictly a houseplant. When first I received it, it was 4" tall & in a 2" pot. Three years later & several re-pottings later, it's now hitting my living room ceiling. So, yes, I guess you could say I've been successful!

My Ardisia elliptica was a really small $1.98 house plant from Wal-Mart a few years ago. It's grown a lot but is still a small plant. It has pretty little blooms and the berries are quite attractive as well.

Ardisia crenata and Ardisia elliptica are both listed as catagory 1 invasive's in Florida so it's best to keep them as container plants.

This is a beautiful potted plant. I let it go through it's flowering but snip off the berries before they mature and dispose of them properly.

Lost this plant during the Jan. '09 freeze at 21*
But I have two more, I'll be more careful.

Shoebutton Ardisia or Jet Berry (Ardisia elliptica) is extremely invasive in central and southern Florida, from coastal central Florida (Brevard County, zone 9a) south through the Keys. It is a shrub or small, upright tree. It spreads rapidly by seed and forms dense, shrubby stands and thickets, pushing out native vegetation. The seeds are dispersed by birds, and this plant tolerates a wide range of soil and spreads rapidly in natural areas, habitats and ecosystems. The flowers are small and purple to violet or pink-white, which distinguishes it from the extremely similar (but very beneficial, wildlife-benefiting and superb native) Marlberry, which is native to central and southern Florida in many of the same habitats, south through the Keys. Also, the leaves of this species are generally more narrow than those of the native Marlberry. Another feature is that the flowers are found in small, hanging clusters, unlike the flowers of the Marlberry, which are found in larger, not drooping, white-flowering clusters. This plant has invaded many of the rare and endangered tropical hardwood hammocks of southern Florida and the Keys as well as a wide range of other natural habitats, including hammocks, shell mounds, coastal strand, coastal scrubs, swampy sites and sunny sites and thickets and a wide range of habitats in between, including in Everglades National Park, spreading extremely rapidly and aggressively, pushing out native species. It is now found and spreading and naturalized in several counties in central and southern Florida (zones 9a through 11), including Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe (mainland and the Keys), and Collier counties. It thrives in sun to deep shade. It SHOULD NOT BE PLANTED IN FLORIDA! It is a Category One Invasive by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council (FLEPPC). A synonym for this species is Bladhia elliptica (Thunb.)Nakai.