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Description:
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Carrotwood is a fast-growing evergreen tree in the Soapberry family (Sapindaceae) that grows to a height of about 35 feet. The leaves are large and compound, made up of four to ten oblong leaflets, each 4 to 8 inches long, and attached by a swollen stalk. Leaflet edges tend to be wavy with rounded tips that are often indented. Leaves alternate along the stems. In Florida, flowering occurs in the winter, from January to March. Clusters of small, greenish-white flowers are borne on stalks that emerge from leaf axils. Flowers are unisexual, with each flower cluster containing both male and female flowers. The brightly colored fruit is a yellow, three-lobed capsule which, when ripe (in Florida, May to June) splits open to expose three shiny black seeds encased in red or orange fleshy tissue. (Excerpted/adapted from PCA/APWG: http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/cuan1.htm [28 Nov 2001].)
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Risk areas:
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While carrotwood invades a variety of natural communities (including dunes, coastal strand, sand pine scrub, slash pine flatwoods, cypress swamps, freshwater marshes and river banks [Florida examples]), it poses a special threat to coastal ecosystems like pond systems. Once introduced (e.g. inadvertently by birds' translocation of fruits), carrotwood forms dense monocultures, crowding out and out-competing native plants for available light and nutrients. Carrotwood has also been found growing among other aggresive, invasive exotic trees. (Excerpted/adapted from PCA/APWG: http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/cuan1.htm [28 Nov 2001].)
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| WARNING: | DUE TO ITS INVASIVE NATURE, CARROTWOOD WAS ADDED TO THE STATE OF FLORIDA LIST OF NOXIOUS WEEDS IN JULY, 1999. |
