PlantFiles: Lancewood
Ocotea coriacea

Lancewood is a tall, straight shrub or small tree native to the hardwood tropical hammocks and shell mounds of coastal East and East-central Florida south through the Keys. It is an excellent member of the Lauraceae (laurel) family, and it's berries provide food for wildlife. The name "Lancewood" comes from the fact that it's stems or branches are absolutely straight, slim and pointed at the tip, like an arrow or "Lance", and was used by the Native American Indians such as the Tekesta, Ais and Calusa Tribes that once inhabited coastal Florida in the hammocks and shell mounds on the barrier islands (some of which are in fact "Indian Middens" of oyster and clam shells which are deposits of what the Indians once ate as food along the once-remote ancient Florida Peninsula shorelines on the barrier islands) as spears used to hunt fish, wildlife or defend their tribes and territories. This is a great native plant if you have suitable habitat for it and seeds for growing it!

MORE FACTS - Common on barrier islands from zone 9a southward.