Name: Cockspur; devil's smooth claws or smooth devil's claws

Botanical name: Pisonia rotundata

Description: Round, glossy leaves distinguish this small tree that grows only on No Name Key and Big Pine Key and is on the state's endangered species list. It is briefly deciduous and also dioecious, meaning there are male and female trees. Pisonia flowers in the spring.

The little spreading tree, in the family of plants that includes four-o'clocks, is useful as one of the understory plants that will grace the edge of natural plantings and mind its own business. The unlikely common name of devil's smooth claws may be derived from a characteristic it doesn't share with its relative, Pisonia aculeata, or pull-and-haul-back, a vine with recurved thorns from which it can be devilishly tricky to become unattached.

Height: 15 feet

Light: sun to shade

Culture: Since this grows naturally in rock pineland and rock hammock of the Keys, such as the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine, it should do well in your rocky yard with little care. Presumably you won't have deer nibbling at its leaves, but can instead plant it, then walk away. It's doubtful that you will find this sold anywhere, so join the Florida Native Plant Society and get help in recognizing Pisonia in the field, then collect seeds. This is the way useful but little-known native plants can be brought into cultivation.

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