Crabwood
Gymnanthes lucida
Plant Family: Euphorbiaceae
Leaves: Alternate, simple, elliptic to obovate, glossy, to 10 cm, apices may be rounded or come to a blunt point, the margins may be very lightly toothed; the leaf petioles are shouldered where they attach to the twig. Dots of gray or white lichens will often be found growing on some of the leaves.
Bark: Light mottled gray to brown with whitish lenticels.
Flowers: Monoecious, yellow, held on short terminal spikes; forming as buds in summer, they open in spring of the following year.
Fruits: A round capsule, to 1 cm, green, turning brown when mature; late spring to summer.
Habitat: Common in coastal Keys hammocks, uncommon further north.
Growth Form: Shrub to small tree.
Key Feature: The shouldered leaf bases that grasp the stem, lightly toothed leaf margins, and the presence of dot-like lichens on some of the leaves will help identify this common Keys hammock species.
Comments: Crabwood ranges to the Bahamas, the West Indies, and coastal Mexico and Central America. Older field guides reference Crabwood as Ateramnus lucidus.
