Can you name a small evergreen native tree that has good wind, salt, drought and alkalinity tolerance, attractive white fragrant flowers, edible reddish orange fruit, interesting exfoliating reddish-brown bark and a reputation for curing diarrhea? Well, it’s Myrcianthes fragrans, Simpson’s stopper or Twinberry.

It’s modestly threatened in the wild in Florida. While rarely encountered, it can be found here and there in the landscape trade in that state, rarely elsewhere. Agristarts sometimes offers tc plants. We’ve had this plant for a good number of years at SFA Gardens, Nacogdoches, TX, and it’s performed well, but we like it even better in our Moody Gardens research plots on Galveston Island, TX, – see image below – where it’s held up to epic wind and salt challenges. Plants are rather dense in full sun, less so in part shade.

Of course, there are some negatives. First is cold hardiness. While it’s often considered a 9A plant, we beg to differ. It’s been quite tolerant of freezing temperatures into the teens at SFA Gardens and returned well from near the ground after the February 16, 2021 winter storm Uri event when temperatures fell to -4^oF, a record all time low in our Pineywoods Texas home. A second negative is that we have seen it send up some suckers in a good spot.

In the wild in Florida, it occurs naturally in coastal strands and hammocks. There it is reported to have year-round blooms that attract a variety of butterflies and bees. The fruit is appreciated by many bird species and while the sweet flesh is edible to humans, eating the bitter seeds is not recommended. The flowers remind me a bit of widow’s frill, Silene stellata, and are dramatic in full bloom. Each fragrant flower has four white petals and many long white stamens. Leaves are bright green, ovate to elliptic and leathery and when crushed, they emit a citrusy aroma. Fruits start off as greenish ovoid berries that transition into bright reddish-orange as they mature. They are typically born in pairs (hence the name “twinberry”). There are a number of varieties in the trade but they are almost impossible to find outside of a few nurseries in Florida. In general, seedling grown plants in Florida top out at around 20’. Propagation by seed is easy. We typically stratify for two or three weeks and sow. Emergence is quick and the seedlings are tough. We’ve had good success with cutting propagation almost any time of the year.

Finally, Jim Berry of JBerry Nursery picked out several seedlings from our nursery and has one that sports showy burgundy new growth. I like it. We twisted Jim’s arm and we have it back in the garden and have propagated it for further trials. Here’s a pic taken a few years ago in his research pen. Brook McCown, JBerry Nursery R and D, reports its been a trouble tree plant for years.

With so many positives, we think this plant is a Gulf South native that certainly deserves more attention. I speak far and wide and have long been asking folks have they ever heard of the plant? Some of the bonafide geeks know it, but most don’t. We have been looking at this plant in the nursery, in the ground here and at other gardens and it seems like a winner to us. Our next push is 1) to put in a large planting of named clones and seedlings in our Moody Gardens research plot, and 2) plant more seedlings here to find superior cold hardiness for the future, and 3) do some hedging, clipping and topiary attempts to see how the plant responds. I’m convinced there’s good opportunity for selecting improved forms and we think this might be a perfect patio container plant in regions that get freezing temperatures into the single digits. For those near the coast, this plant needs to be in your your shopping cart.