Schinus molle L.
pepper tree
Widespreading, glabrous, or minutely puberulent tree to c. 10 m high, with gnarled and twisted trunk when mature. Branchlets and lvs pendulous. Lvs imparipinnate, aromatic, 15-25 cm long; petioles 1.5-6 cm long. Leaflets 15- c. 31, alternate or opposite (terminal leaflet sometimes 0), mostly 2-5.5 × 0.25-1 cm, entire or serrate (especially on juvenile shoots), linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, acute or mucronate. Panicles large and diffuse, terminal or nearly so. Fls usually 5-merous, greenish white. Calyx c. 0.5 mm long, broad-ovate, often wider than long, often ciliolate. Petals 1.5-2 mm long, oblong-ovate or ovate. Styles < 0.5 mm long. Fr. 6-8 mm diam., shining pink.
N.; S.: occasional, Nelson, Christchurch.
Peruvian Andes 1983
Waste places, especially in coastal areas.
FL Dec-Feb.
Pepper tree is widely cultivated, especially in warmer coastal areas, and spontaneous plants occasionally occur in the vicinity of planted trees. The widespreading pendulous branches and picturesque gnarled trunk of the pepper tree are characteristic features, and in late summer and autumn the large clusters of pink drupes are also very ornamental.
