Florida Forest Plants

Gopher apple (Licania michauxii)

Gopher apple, also called ground oak, is a low-growing plant that regenerates well after fire. It is commonly found in upland areas where gopher tortoises reside and provides a popular food source for them. In addition to the tortoises, numerous other wildlife eat the fruit. The fruit, with its sweet, juicy pulp, is edible for humans.

Gopher apple is occasionally grown as a ground cover plant for landscaping purposes because of its attractive, shiny, evergreen foliage.

Gopher apple is generally limited to southeastern states from Mississippi to South Carolina and south into Florida.

  

Twigs, leaves, and fruit

 Identifying Characteristics
Size/Form:
 Gopher apple is an evergreen ground-cover shrub, which only reaches heights of 1' to 2' and is usually less than one feet tall. It often grows in clumps, since it reproduces by underground runners, called rhizomes.
Leaves:
 The leaves are simple, alternate, and elliptical in shape. They have a distinctive shiny, lime-green color on the upper surface and a paler or whitish underside that is often slightly fuzzy. Leaves are 1" to 5" long, ½" to 1½" wide and may have a tiny bristle at the tip. Leaf margins are entire. The mid-stem leaves are often larger than the upper or lower leaves. Plant stems are often reddish-brown.
Flowers:
 The flowers are small, terminal, white clusters that bloom from late spring through summer.
Fruit:
 The fruit is an elliptical drupe, about 1" long, that turns from green to purplish when ripe.
Habitat:
 Gopher apple grows best in dry sandhills and is often found along upland ridges and roadsides. It is a common resident of turkey oak habitats.


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