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Fruit and seeds from C. anacardioides. Photo courtesy UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants. Photographer Ann Murray.

Species Name: 
Cupaniopsis anacardioides Cav. R.Br.

Common Name(s):
Carrotwood, Carrot Weed, Tuckeroo Tree

Synonymy:
Cupania anacardioides A. Rich.

Species Description:
Carrotwood, Cupaniopsis anacardioides, is an evergreen tree native to Australia, Indonesia, and New Guinea. It is a slender tree usually with a single trunk that has dark gray outer bark covering inner bark that is often orange in color. It is this unusual feature that gives C. anacardioides its common name. The compound leaves are comprised of 4-12 leathery, shiny, yellowish green leaflets with the last two leaflets of each forming a pair. Leaflets are up to 20 cm long and 7.5 cm wide, with smooth margins and rounded to slightly indented leaf tips. Small white to greenish yellow flowers in branched clusters occur at leaf axils. The fruits are defining diagnostic features, consisting of short-stalked, three-segmented woody capsules up to 0.9 inches across that are yellow-orange when ripen and then dry to brown before splitting open to reveal three black seeds each covered by a yellow-red crust (Oliver 1992, Langeland and Burks 1998).

Potentially Misidentified Species:
The identifying characteristics noted above, particularly the unusual fruits and the orange inner bark layer, make species determination fairly straightforward.

II.  HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION 

Regional Occurrence:
Within it's native range Cupaniopsis anacardioides is found along rocky beaches and in sand dunes, and in hilly scrub and forested wetlands (Reynolds 1985). Carrotwood has escaped cultivation to become established in Florida. It is also grown as an ornamental plant in California but there is no indication of a similar pest plant situation there.

In Florida, carrotwood can be found in coastal lands and estuarine margins and riparian zones, and within disturbed wetlands. In coastal counties, carrotwood can be found on both sides of the state, from Volusia County south on the Atlantic coast and from Pinellas and Hillsborough counties south on the Gulf coast (Langeland and Burks 1998).

IRL Distribution:
Carrotwood can be found in all six IRL watershed counties and is considered to be naturalized from at least Brevard County southward. Brevard and Martin counties were the first on the east coast to contain reproductive populations (Langeland and Burks 1998, FLEPPC EDD Maps).

III. LIFE HISTORY AND POPULATION BIOLOGY

Age, Size, Lifespan:
This fast growing tree can reach a height of 10 m (Langeland and Burks 1998).

Abundance:
Carrotwood occurs in at least 14 Florida counties and is capable of displacing native plants to form monotypic stands. Lockhart et al. (1999) report carrotwood densities are highest in mangrove and coastal hammock habitats, reaching greater than 24 plants per square meter and 21 plants per square meter, respectively.

Reproduction:
Carrotwood is monoecious, with both male and female flowers occurring on the same plant (Lockhart 2006). Sexual reproduction and propagation by means of seeds is the chief means of reproduction in Cupaniopsis anacardioides, a species that is recognized as a prolific seed producer (Lockhart et al. 1999). In Florida, carrotwood flowers from January to March and its fruit ripens in May and June. Bees are likely to be the main pollinators of carrotwood in Florida, as they are within the plant's native range (Hawkeswood 1983, ISSG).

Embryology:
When the fruits ripen, they split open to release seeds to the environment. Seed dispersal by birds and small mammals is important, and transport via water may be important as well. The germination rate of carrotwood reportedly remains unknown (Lockhart et al. 1999).

IV.  PHYSICAL TOLERANCES

Temperature:
Temperature is likely the key factor limiting the spread of Cupaniopsis anacardioides into north Florida. A temperature of -6°C has been published as a lethal lower limit for the species, although test specimens maintained in north Florida have survived winter temperatures as low or lower than this value (Lockhart 2006).

Salinity:
Carrotwood is tolerant of saline soil conditions as evidenced by its tendency to invade mangrove marshes and other coastal shoreline habitats.