"Fiddle-Faddle under
the Fiddlewood Tree"

Last year, Keys Energy gave away Fiddlewood (Citharexylum fruticosum) and I planted
it not knowing exactly what would transpire. One year later, this multi-stemmed bush is
giving me come hither looks and showing off its glossy dark green leaves with four inch
long bracts of small, white five-petal flowers. It perfumes the air with the smell of lilacs.
This is a plant that attracts lovers. “A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou, -And
wilderness is Paradise now.” (Omar Khayyam)

Our Paradise should have more of these romantic specimens. The State of Florida thinks
so too, as it recommends the native Fiddlewood (Verbenaceae Family) as an outstanding
ornamental that should be planted more.

When I first planted this tree I thought it would have a trunk, however, if the many
branches are not pruned into one, it forms a bush that can be twenty feet high and twelve
feet wide. Mine grew from two to six feet tall in one year even in our poor alkaline soil. It
is drought and salt soil tolerant. It flowers prolifically in the sun, but can also grow in
light shade.

Round seeds form on the trees, at the same time as flowers, in an orange drupe that turns
brown. They are edible, sweet and juicy, but the two seeds take up most of the space. The
tree can be grown from these seeds. (Look for the propagated plant at next winter's
Garden Club sale.) The dense, evergreen leaves are three to six inches long with a square
orange stalk and mid-rib. In the spring the leaves turn a showy orange before being shed.
The trunk is brown and furrows with age.

Fiddlewood makes a great hedge and is so sturdy that it is recommended for parking lots
and highways. Plant it by a window or a walkway so the smells can overwhelm you. It is
remarkably hearty and has no major diseases or pests. Sometimes its leaves are eaten by
moth caterpillars, but they have no long term effect on the plant. It is easily pruned and, if
cut to the ground, will re-grow. Sounds hurricane resistant to me.

Birds love the seeds, especially hummingbirds. Butterflies like the Ruddy Daggerwing
and bees love the nectar. Listen up and you can hear “The buzzin' of the bees in the
Fiddlewood Trees.”

Fiddlewood comes from the West Indies and is considered invasive in Hawaii and
Australia, but not here. Its name, Citharexylum, means 'lyre' from the Greek word
'Kithara' and 'wood' from the Greek, 'xylon.' Not surprisingly, the wood has been used
in the Caribbean to make the sounding boards of string instruments, hence, fiddle wood.
The heavy, hard wood also is used to make cabinets. An example that has been pruned to
be a tree can be found at Stop 2 of the Western Loop Tour of the Key West Botanical
Gardens.

So don't fiddle-faddle. Check out a local nursery where you could get this tree for around $15.
When you buy it, notice how many trunks it has to determine whether, in its soul, it wants to
be a bush or a tree.