Gumbo-limbo has glossy pinnate leaves with 5 to 11 leaflets. Semi-evergreen, the tree drops its leaves for a few weeks in late winter, thereby, avoiding drought with a brief dormancy. The tree casts a light mottled shade which allows for sun loving plants to grow underneath.

The flowers arise on racemes in late winter to early spring, but are seldom noticed for they are tiny and pale green. The trees are considered polygamodioecious, generally staminate (male) and pistillate (female) flowers are borne on separate plants, except that every now and then, a tree will produce a raceme with perfect flowers—flowers that have both stamens and a pistil.

Gumbo-limbo has lightweight, soft wood that is easily carved. The living wood is unusually strong and the open crown makes the tree resistant to wind, an adaptation to hurricanes. The bark is red and peels away exposing new greenish bark. But the tree is reminiscent of visitors who underestimate the power of the tropical sun, hence it is also known as the tourist tree.

 

(Compiled from: “Bursera”, Hortus Third, Staff L.H. Bailey Hortorium, NY State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Macmillan, NY, 1976; “Bursera simaruba”, Edward F. Gilmand and Dennis G. Watson, Fact Sheet ST-104, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, IFAS, University of Florida, November 1993; and personal observations)