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Eugenia confusa, Red Stopper

Red Stopper may be used in the landscape as tall screens, or in shrub borders. They are excellent for confined soil spaces due to their small size. They can be used as a small shade tree for along streets and in parking lot buffer strips. Eugenia species are also exceptional understory shrubs and make interesting specimen plants due to the showy trunk structure. They maintain a nice canopy in a shaded landscape. Trees can be grown with several trunks, or they can be trained to one central leader for use along a street.

Stoppers grow well in a variety of light levels and they tolerate different types of well-drained soils. These plants have good salt and drought tolerance and grow in alkaline soil. E. confusa is an endangered plant in Florida.

Red Stopper is an evergreen, small tree or large shrub that grows to about 25 feet and can serve many purposes in the landscape. Older specimens reach to 35-feet-tall. They are native to sandy coastal areas and limestone soils with alkaline soil pH. The opposite leaves emerge reddish-green turning a medium green several weeks later. The margins turn under slightly on some trees.

The canopy remains dense, even in the partial shade. White or cream-yellow flowers have numerous, showy stamens that are yellow in color. These flowers occur in axillary clusters during the warm months, but they abscise quickly. The edible fruits are drupe-like, juicy cherry-like berries that are globose and very showy. They can make a mess on a sidewalk.

Scattered in Dade County Florida. Plant is endangered in Florida.

National champion is 46 x 26 feet in Florida.