Boxleaf stopper

Description

Eugenia foetida is a member of the family Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, and is colloquially referred to as "Spanish stopper" or "boxleaf stopper." It is found year-round in the understory of mangrove forests, coastal hammocks and dunes in coastal, central to southern Florida, and east in the Bahamas. It is a common small tree with opposite leaves that are dark green on the adaxial (upper or dorsal) leaf surface and lighter on the abaxial (lower or ventral) surface and oblanceolate with a rounded or obtuse apex. The specific epithet foetida, Latin for "fetid" refers to the unpleasant scent of the flowers. Eugenia is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,100 species occur in the New World tropics, especially in the northern Andes, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Forest (coastal forests) of eastern Brazil. Other centers of diversity include New Caledonia and Madagascar. Many of the species that occur in the Old World have received a new classification into the genus Syzygium.