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Piscidia piscipula
Also called Jamaica Dogwood, Jamaican Dogwood, Fish Poison Tree, Fish Fuddle Tree, Fishfuddle
Florida fishpoison tree is a medium-sized deciduous tropical tree in the pea family, grown for its shade, pea-like flowers and bee-attractive blooms. Give it full sun, well-drained sandy soil and warmth, and protect it from cold.
Piscidia piscipula, commonly named Florida fishpoison tree, Jamaican dogwood, or fishfuddle, is a medium-sized, deciduous, tropical tree in the Fabaceae family. It is native to the Greater Antilles (except Puerto Rico), extreme southern Florida (primarily the Florida Keys) and the Bahamas, and the coastal region from Panama northward to the vicinity of Ocampo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. The native Taino of the West Indies discovered that extracts from the tree could sedate fish, allowing them to be caught by hand. This practice led to the tree's common names—fishpoison and fishfuddle. The tree has medicinal value as an analgesic and sedative.
The generic name is Latin for "fish killer", and the specific epithet is Latin for "little fish".
The Florida fishpoison tree grows in coastal zones. It prefers well-drained, sandy soils, with a top layer of humus. The tree has some tolerance to short-term storm surges of brackish water or seawater. Although it grows in coastal conditions, the tree is usually protected from direct salt spray by adjoining vegetation. Established trees are highly tolerant of drought. Its sensitivity to the cold limits Florida fishpoison tree to areas no colder than plant hardiness zone 11.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Piscidia piscipula by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
