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Gumbo Limbo

Bursera simaruba

Found in Coastal hammocks, rockland hammocks, shell middens, pine rocklands. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Florida edition What its natural habitat tells you

48
Good

Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 24%

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At a glance

Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom

This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.

Recorded in 17 Florida counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Coastal Plain hammocks

Dense, evergreen groves of live oak, magnolia and other hardwoods in the southern Coastal Plain, from dry oak domes to wet hydric hammocks and south Florida's tropical hammocks; salt-shaped maritime hammocks are maritime forests.

All habitats

Also found with this plant

Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Florida. Shared habitat, not food. 98 animals.

All wildlife of Florida

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

7CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL

Genus host records with ranges including FL · Bursera

  • Ennomos subsignariaElm Spanworm Moth
  • Eunica monimaDingy Purplewing
  • Caloptilia burserella
  • Episimus burserae
  • Episimus transferrana
  • Paectes lunodes
  • Paectes nana
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
3BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Bursera

Individual names are not available yet.

Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Bursera

  • Zenaida asiaticaWhite-winged Dove
Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Burseraceae

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Conservation status

Florida rankS3S4
Global rankNot available
FL statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source

In your garden

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Sources