Family: Rhamnaceae (Buckthorn Family)

Native range: Old World beaches from east Africa to India, Malaysia, and Pacific islands.

Description: A sprawling shrub to 10 feet with smooth, trailing or spreading branches. Elliptic-ovate, 1 1/2- to 3 1/2-inch leaves are dark green and lustrous above, paler below, with toothed margins. Small, green, 1/16-inch wide flowers are produced in axillary clusters periodically throughout the year. Three-parted fruit are green or orangish, ripening brown with black seeds.

Ecological threat: Lather leaf aggressively invades coastal regions in Florida but may occasionally be found infesting inland sites as well. It invades coastal strand, dunes, mangrove-buttonwood forests, pine rockland, the margins of hardwood forests, and disturbed sites. Its sprawling growth habit enables it to smother native vegetation and it has been known to form a near monoculture if left unchecked. Its seeds float in seawater and are transported by ocean currents to other sites.

Distribution in Florida: Central and southern Florida, including the Florida Keys.

Background: Lather leaf was introduced into the Caribbean from Asia where it escaped cultivation. Seeds are believed to have migrated on favorable ocean currents from the Caribbean to coastal Florida where it is now naturalized. Thousands of lather leaf seedlings were found at the Deering Estate at Cutler in the wrack line of sea debris left by Hurricane Andrew in August 1992.