Flower Notes:
White (Greenish-white flowers (0.5") appear in spring with males in 3's and females solitary)
Foliage Notes:
Green (Dark green in summer); Yellow (Fall foliage usually yellow-green, but often showing purple)
Stem Notes:
Brown/Gray/Red (pubescent, slender, zig-zag)
Fruit Notes:
Orange (Edible fruit (0.75-2") is a plum-like berry that is green before ripening, and turning orange to black when ripe; persists into winter)
Soil Notes:
Soil tolerant including pH, but prefers moist, well-drained soils
Range:
Connecticut to Florida, west to Kansas and Texas
Diagnostic Characteristics:
Leaves (2.3-5.5" long by 0.8-2" wide) are alternate, simple, ovate to elliptical, rounded at base, and much paler beneath. Bark is very dark, broken up into square scaly thick plates, resembling charcoal riquettes, or maybe an alligator's back. Branches tend to slope downward.
Indiana Native 
