Florida Poisontree
Metopium toxiferum
Found in hammocks, pine rocklands, coastal berms, disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
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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 7 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
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.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Florida. Shared habitat, not food. 141 animals.
- Sharp-shinned HawkAccipiter striatus
- Shiny CowbirdMolothrus bonariensis
- Short-tailed HawkButeo brachyurus
- Swallow-tailed KiteElanoides forficatus
- Turkey VultureCathartes aura
- White-crowned PigeonPatagioenas leucocephala
- White-eyed VireoVireo griseus
- Yellow-bellied SapsuckerSphyrapicus varius
- Yellow-crowned Night-heronNyctanassa violacea
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American CootFulica americana
- American GoldfinchCarduelis tristis
- American RobinTurdus migratorius
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
- Black-bellied Whistling-DuckDendrocygna autumnalis
- Black-throated Blue WarblerDendroica caerulescens
- Black-whiskered VireoVireo altiloquus
- Blue JayCyanocitta cristata
- Blue-gray GnatcatcherPolioptila caerulea
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Carolina WrenThryothorus ludovicianus
- Cedar WaxwingBombycilla cedrorum
- Common MynaAcridotheres tristis
- Downy WoodpeckerPicoides pubescens
Who uses this plant?
4CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Metopium
- Nystalea eutalantaFlorida Prominent
- Oxydia vesuliaSpurge Spanworm Moth
- Epidromia pannosa
- Episimus augmentana
2BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Metopium
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
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Metopium
- Patagioenas leucocephalaWhite-crowned Pigeon
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
Plant details
- Family
- Anacardiaceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Florida rank | S3S4 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

























