PlantFiles: Spanish Stopper, Boxleaf Stopper
Eugenia foetida

Spanish Stopper grows naturally in south Florida on limestone soils in hardwood hammocks. In this capacity, it is a pioneer species establishing itself before any of the other hammock species. It occurs naturally as an understory tree, but is well adapted to open and sunny locations where it will flourish with little care.

Several stems rise from the lower part of the tree forming a multi-trunked tree well adapted for many landscapes. The smooth, brownish-gray, bark and tight canopy of fine-textured leaves makes Spanish Stopper well suited for planting as a specimen in any yard. Old bark will exfoliate, showing fresh, smooth orange bark below. Accenting the natural, vase-shaped trunk structure with landscape lighting lends outstanding interest after night falls.

Spanish Stopper can be trained to one central trunk. It is a slender tree, with a spread of about 15 feet. This tree makes an outstanding shade tree for a patio or deck, it will maintain a maximum height of 20 feet.

The fruits are 1/4" round, and red to black. They have a slight fleshy coating around the seed. They are a great berry to attract fruit-eating birds. The fruit persists on the tree, and does not get messy. The fruit is edible was used as a treatment for diarrhea, That is why it is called a stopper.

Spanish Stopper, like the White Stopper, is native and endemic to the coastal barrier islands, coastal scrub and flatwoods and tropical hardwood hammocks from central Florida south through the Keys. It also provides food with it's berries and shelter with it's branches and oval, canopy-forming leaves for wildlife. It grows in almost the same zones, which it grows in zones 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11 and below, as the White Stopper. The Spanish Stopper or Boxleaf Stopper here, however, usually enjoys slightly drier, more flatwoods-and-scrub or barrier island scrub-type soil, especially the kinds found in the dry barrier island sabal and saw palmetto hammocks. Seeds may also be available at nurseries. Grows usually up to 15 feet tall or maybe more, and sometimes as a shrub. A great choice for a wildlife garden as well!

MORE FACTS - Plants may be available at plant nurseries and native plant specialty nurseries and native plant nurseries. Grows from Brevard County (zone 9a) on the east coast and Manatee County near Tampa Bay on the west coast (zone 9b) south through the rest of the state and the Keys and zone 11. Overall, grows from zone 9a southward through zone 11.