The Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council (now FISC, the Florida Invasive Species Council) maintains the authoritative list of invasive plants in the state. Category I plants — those altering native plant communities, displacing natives, or hybridizing with natives — include several tree species you almost certainly have on your property or your block. Their removal is one of the highest-leverage things a Florida property owner can do for the surrounding ecosystem.
This is the field guide we use when an audit identifies invasive trees for removal. Photographs and exact ID keys live at fleppc.org and plants.ifas.ufl.edu; this piece focuses on what to look for in the field and how to actually kill them so they stay dead.
Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius)
Probably the most widespread woody invasive in Florida. Multi-stemmed, sprawling small tree to 30 ft, compound leaves with 5–9 leaflets, reddish twigs, and bright red berries in clusters December through February. Crushed leaves smell distinctly of turpentine. Berries are mildly toxic to people (it is in the same family as poison ivy) and the sap causes contact dermatitis in sensitive individuals.
Why it matters: Brazilian pepper forms monocultures that eliminate every native plant beneath it, allelopathically suppresses germination of natives, and is the dominant invader of disturbed coastal and freshwater wetland edges from Tampa south.
Removal technique
Cut-stump treatment is the only method that reliably kills it. Cut the stem at ground level, and within 5 minutes paint the cut surface with triclopyr (Garlon 4 or generic equivalent at 25% in basal oil, or Garlon 3A at 50% in water) — the cambial ring is the part that must be coated. Pulling, mowing, or cutting without herbicide produces a thicker, multi-stemmed comeback within one growing season. If you cannot use herbicide, do not bother starting — you will make the problem worse.
Melaleuca (Melaleuca quinquenervia)
Tall, narrow tree to 80 ft, with distinctive white-paper bark that peels in sheets, narrow lanceolate leaves smelling like camphor when crushed, and bottlebrush-like white flower spikes. Native to Australia; introduced as a swamp-drying agent in the early 1900s. Now the dominant invader of south Florida wetlands, with continuing infestations from Lake Okeechobee south.
Why it matters: a mature melaleuca pumps 200+ gallons of water per day, can transform sawgrass marsh into closed-canopy melaleuca forest in 20 years, and each tree produces millions of seeds released by fire or freeze.
Removal technique
Same protocol as Brazilian pepper: cut-stump with triclopyr or imazapyr. For trees too large to fell safely, basal bark treatment (triclopyr in basal oil applied to the lower 18 inches of bark) works on stems under 6 inches. Do not chip seed-bearing branches without solarizing — the seed remains viable for months.
Chinese tallow / popcorn tree (Triadica sebifera)
Medium tree to 50 ft, recognized at a glance in fall by its red, orange, and yellow heart-shaped leaves (one of the few reliable fall-color trees in Florida) and white waxy seeds in three-lobed capsules. Spreads aggressively across the Panhandle and northern peninsula.
Why it matters: produces allelochemicals that suppress native seedlings, tolerates flood and drought, and is the leading invader of disturbed upland sites in north Florida.
Removal technique
Cut-stump with triclopyr is reliable for stems up to 4 inches. Larger stems often resprout from roots; basal bark treatment in late summer (before leaf drop) of standing trees is more effective than cutting and treating. Pulling seedlings by hand while small is the cheapest long-term control.
Camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora)
Large evergreen to 60 ft with glossy elliptical leaves smelling strongly of camphor when crushed, small black drupes, and gray fissured bark. Common in older Florida neighborhoods where it was planted as a shade tree before its invasiveness was recognized.
Why it matters: produces enormous seed crops dispersed by birds, establishes in shade where natives cannot, and is increasingly dominant in disturbed hammocks across central Florida.
Removal technique
Cut-stump with triclopyr. Larger trees may require felling in stages. A camphor stump that has been cut and not treated will produce dozens of sprouts within months.
Earleaf acacia (Acacia auriculiformis)
Fast-growing tree to 60 ft with curved, ear-shaped phyllodes (modified petioles that look like leaves) and bright yellow rod-shaped flowers. Common invader in south Florida pine rocklands, scrub, and disturbed uplands.
Removal technique: cut-stump with triclopyr. Frequently leans and fails in storms because of weak wood and rapid growth — a structural risk as well as an ecological one.
Trees often misidentified as invasive — but native or naturalized
- Sabal palmetto (cabbage palm) — Florida's state tree, native, never invasive.
- Live oak (Quercus virginiana) — native; the seedlings under a mature oak look like weeds but are not.
- Royal palm (Roystonea regia) — native to south Florida, not invasive.
- Jacaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia) — not on the FISC Category I or II lists; widely planted ornamental.
- Magnolia grandiflora — native, not invasive.
What to plant instead
A site that supported a 40-ft melaleuca will easily support a 40-ft red maple (Acer rubrum), bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), or sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana). A Brazilian pepper thicket replaces well with a mix of myrsine (Myrsine cubana), wax myrtle (Morella cerifera), and walter's viburnum (Viburnum obovatum). The native replacements are slower to establish but durable, fire-adapted, and support the food web the invasives starved.