''Forestiera segregata'' is a species of flowering plant in the

olive family Oleaceae, also known as the olive family, is a taxonomic family of flowering shrubs, trees, and a few lianas in the order Lamiales, It presently comprises 28 genera, one of which is recently extinct.Peter S. Green. 2004. "Oleaceae". pages 296 ...

known by the common names Florida privet, Florida swampprivet, and southern privet. It is native to the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, including Puerto Rico and the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

, the Lesser Antilles, including Anguilla, and Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina in the United States.Francis, J. K
''Forestiera segregata''.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry. This plant is a

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

or small tree growing up to three''Forestiera segregata''.
The Nature Conservancy. to seven meters tall. The gray or brownish twigs have

lenticel A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a ...

s. The leaves are widely lance-shaped, oval, or spatula-shaped with narrowed bases. They are up to 5 to 7 centimeters long. The plant is evergreen or deciduous. The flowers are small and greenish yellow in color. They are pollinated by insects. The fruit is a black or bluish

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

up to a centimeter long. It stains cloth and skin and is bad-tasting. There are two varieties of this species: the more common var. ''segregata'' and the less common var. ''pinetorum'', which occurs in Florida, Georgia, and the Bahamas.''Forestiera segregata''.
Center for Plant Conservation. This species is used in cultivation as a hedge which is easily clipped into shape.''Forestiera segregata''.
University of Florida IFAS.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5469243 segregata Flora of the Southeastern United States Flora of the Caribbean