From Common Forest Trees of Hawaii

Shoebutton Ardisia
Ardisia elliptica
Primrose family (Primulaceae)

Post-Cook introduction

Introduced shrub or small tree with elliptical leathery leaves and many small pinkish starlike flowers, ornamental and becoming in moist lowland areas. To 20 ft (6 m) high and 3 inches (7.5 m) in trunk diameter. Twigs slightly stout, light green, purplish tinged, hairless.


©2022 Judy Adler
, elliptical, 3-4 1⁄2 inches (7.5–11 ) long, 1–1 1⁄2 inches (2.5–4 ) wide, short-pointed at , broadest beyond middle, tapering toward long-pointed base, edges straight, slightly thickened and leathery with side veins not visible, hairless, dull light green on both surfaces, beneath with dots sometimes blackish. Leafstalk is about 1⁄4 inch (6 ) long, purplish, flattened above.

Flower clusters () at base of upper leaves, 1 1⁄2–3 inches (4–7.5 ) long, branched. Flowers many on slender green talks of about 1⁄2 inch (13 ), from pointed pink bud 3⁄8 inch (1 ) long, spreading starlike, composed of cuplike with five rounded , whitish with brown dots; with five from short tube spreading starlike about 1⁄2 inch (13 ) wide, pink with brown dots; five inserted near base of opposite , with large long-pointed brown united; and with round greenish containing many and with a slender whitish .

() many, rounded, becoming 3⁄8 inch (1 ) in diameter, slightly flattened, turning from pink to black, with -dots, and base of remaining, with purplish juice. Seed single, round.

Heartwood is pale brown with large conspicuous darker colored rays showing prominently on all surfaces. Of moderate density and hardness, with a fine texture; not used.

Planted as an ornamental for the pretty flowers and glossy leaves but escaping and becoming as a weed in moist lowland areas, especially Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii.

Special area
Waimea Arboretum

Range
Native of southeastern Asia. Widely cultivated through the tropics and becoming . Introduced and locally in south Florida.

Other common name
elliptical-leaf ardisia

Botanical
Ardisia solanacea Roxb., A. humilis auth., not Vahl.

The common name apparently refers to the resemblance of the round blackish to buttons formerly worn on ladies’ high-topped shoes.

An evergreen tree retains a large portion of its green leaves all year.

mm -- millimeter. About 1/25th of an inch.

style -- This is a long and thread-like structure that connects the stigma with the ovary. A flower may have a single style, or several of them.

synonym -- In botany a synonym is a species name that at one time was thought to be the correct name for a plant but was later found to be incorrect and has been replaced by a new name.

cm -- A centimeter which is about 0.4 inches.

The apex is the tip or the furthest point from the attachment.

corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.

a non-native plant that has adapted to a new environment and continues to spread.

Glands are plant structures that secrete liquids, salts or other substances. Glands often appear as hairs with a drop of liquid at the end.

calyx -- the sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in bud.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

stamen -- the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower; The stamen consists of an anther supported by a filament.

drupe -- A fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a hardened shell containing a seed. A peach is a drupe. A raspberry is composed of drupelets.

The anther is a pad at the end of the stamen that holds the pollen.

A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. The bottom flowers in a panicle open first.

lobe -- A rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ).

An ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower. Above the ovary is the style and the stigma, which is where the pollen lands and germinates to grow down through the style to the ovary.

ovules -- the part of the ovary of seed plants that contains the female germ cell. After fertilization an ovule becomes the seed.

A pistil is the female structure of many flowers. It contains one or more carpels. Each carpel contins an ovary, style and stigma. The stigma receives the pollen which grows thru the style to reach the ovary.

leaves alternate along the main stem and are attached singly.