Seven-Year-Apple
Casasia clusiifloia

By Roger L. Hammer

Most Often, common names of plants make some sort of sense but, occasionally, we encounter one that defies our imagination. This is one of them. The green, leathery fruit ripen black and wrinkled with dark brown, somewhat edible pulp that surrounds the seeds. Nothing at all like an apple. The fruit ripen very slowly, which takes the better part of a year. Someone lost count.
At least, the latin name, Casasia clusiifolia, makes sense. Casasiahonors an 18th Century Spaniard, Luis de las Casas y Arargorri, and clusiifolia refers to the leaves, which resemble plants in the genus Clusia, such as pitch-apple, Clusia rosea.
Seven-year-apple is a sparsely-branched shrub of coastal areas in the Florida Keys. Leaves are deep green, glossy and are clustered at the tips of the branches. Female trees bear solitary flowers while males produce clusters of several flowers. The flowers resemble miniature, white frandipani flowers and are sweetly fragrant. Hummingbirds and sphinx moths visit the flowers for nectar.
Some fine examples of seven-year-apple can be found along the nature trail on Elliott Key in Biscayne National Park but, unfortunately, they tend to flower at the height of mosquito season in late spring and early summer. To truly appreciate this beautiful, small tree, plant several in your home landscape. Seven-year-apple is a fine, low maintenance, salt and drought-tolerant plant perfectly suited for a sunny location.

This blog entry was taken from Miami-Dade Parks Tropical Trails magazine Fall Edition 1994