Peruvian pepper tree

Eastern Australian temperate forests

Fynbos shrubland

New Zealand North Island temperate forests

The largest native cherry of eastern North America - a medium-to-large deciduous shade tree that hangs elongated racemes of small white flowers in spring, then ripens drooping strings of pea-sized fruit from red to near-black in late summer. The fragrant white bloom feeds bees while the fruit is eaten by 33 species of birds and many mammals; it is also a workhorse larval host, supporting the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and a string of giant silk and sphinx moths. Every part except the ripe fruit is cyanide-bearing and toxic.

What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun

Water

Low water

Spacing

26.2 ft

Habit

Fast-growing, broad-crowned evergreen tree with a short, stout trunk and slender, weeping branches

Care tips

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Check local invasive-plant guidance first: it is invasive in South Africa and much of Australia, and UC IPM notes it may be considered an invasive weed in California. Where it is a problem, choose a regionally native tree instead.

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Give it full sun, sharp drainage, and a warm site; it cannot grow in shade, and once established it is drought tolerant and needs little extra water.

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Plant it well away from sidewalks, foundations, sewer lines, and buried cables, and expect a steady drop of leaves and fruit, since its roots are aggressive and it sheds litter.

Lifecycle

Planting

Start by checking whether it should be planted at all: it is a documented invader in South Africa and much of Australia, and UC IPM notes it may be considered an invasive weed in California, so follow local invasive-plant guidance before choosing it. Where it is appropriate, plant it in full sun (it cannot grow in shade) in well-drained soil; it does best in sandy soil in a hot, dry position and tolerates light to heavy soils from mildly acid to mildly alkaline. Give it room: a mature tree can be 26 to 49 feet across, and its roots are known to break up sidewalks and interfere with buried pipes and cables, so keep it well away from paving, foundations, and sewer lines.

Transplanting

Plant a young, container-grown tree rather than moving a large specimen. Plants For A Future suggests growing seedlings on under glass for at least their first winter and planting them out in early summer, which gives a young tree a full warm season to establish before its first frost. Set it at its original depth and water it in well.

Early growth

Growth is fast in warm, sunny conditions. Water a young tree through its first dry season until the roots are established; after that it is drought tolerant and needs little supplemental water. Protect young trees from frost in marginal sites: Trees and Shrubs Online notes that the tree needs heat to harden its shoots and even then tolerates only a few degrees of frost.

Maturity

A mature tree is a long-lived, broad-crowned evergreen with slender weeping branches and rough, twisted bark. UC IPM notes that pepper trees tend to have aggressive roots and drop tree litter, and lists black scale, psyllids, other scales, thrips, and foliage-feeding caterpillars among its pests, with Armillaria root rot, Verticillium wilt, and wood decay fungi among its diseases. Female trees carry dense clusters of pink berries whose hard-coated seeds germinate better after passing through birds or other animals, which is how the tree spreads beyond the garden.

Propagation

It reproduces from seed, suckers, and cuttings. Plants For A Future suggests sowing seed in a warm greenhouse in mid-spring and pricking the seedlings out into individual pots. Cuttings of almost ripe wood about 3 inches long with a heel, taken in August or early September and kept in a frame, root with fair to good success. Because free seeding is how it spreads, pull unwanted seedlings under the tree, and do not share seed or seedlings in regions where it is invasive.

Native range

Climate notes

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Kew's WCVP gives the native range of Schinus molle as Peru, northern Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, northeastern Argentina, and southern Brazil. Plants For A Future describes it in the dry Andes as a bush on dry land that reaches tree size in dry river beds with underground water. Elsewhere, including California, South Africa, and Australia, it is an introduced tree.

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Plants For A Future's USDA hardiness cell reads 8-12, while Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society) gives USDA zones 9-10. Plotwright publishes 9a-12b. The cold edge follows Trees and Shrubs Online, which records that the tree tolerates only a few degrees of frost and that even large established trees in California can be damaged or cut to the base in severe freezes; PFAF's own cultivation note also says it is not very hardy outdoors in Britain. The warm edge follows PFAF, since the native range reaches tropical Peru and USDA PLANTS records the tree as introduced in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Treat zone 9a (winter lows down to about 20°F) as marginal, especially for young trees.

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Trees and Shrubs Online notes that it needs heat to grow well and harden its shoots, and only then tolerates a few degrees of frost. It has not been successful in Portland, Oregon, where it fails to ripen its wood, and in northern Europe it is really suited only to a patio tub. Plants For A Future adds that it is not very hardy outdoors in Britain, though it can succeed against a sunny wall in the milder areas.

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Invasive outside its native range: Wikipedia describes it as a drought-tolerant, long-lived evergreen that has become a serious invasive weed internationally. In South Africa it has invaded savanna and grasslands and become naturalized along drainage lines and roadsides; it is invasive throughout much of Australia in habitats from grasslands to dry open forest and coastal areas; and UC IPM notes it may be considered an invasive weed in California. Its seed germinates better after passing through birds or other animals, which carry it well beyond the garden, so check local invasive-plant guidance before planting and never plant it next to wild land where it is a problem.

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Drought tolerant once established and at its best in sandy, well-drained soil in a hot, dry, sunny position. Its roots tend to break up sidewalks, produce suckers, and interfere with buried telephone wires and sewer pipes, and it fell out of favor as a street tree in Southern California in the early twentieth century, partly because it hosts black scale, an insect that threatened the citrus groves.

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Do not confuse it with Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolia), a separate species whose leaves carry fewer, broader leaflets. Peruvian pepper tree carries 19 to 41 narrow leaflets per leaf on slender, weeping branches.

Plant this, not that

Better fit for this place

For Chicago, IL, these are replacement suggestions: similar plants with a stronger hardiness fit now and/or in 2050.

Prunus serotina

Black cherry

A small-to-medium understory tree of dry, rocky eastern-North-American woods, named for its drooping clusters of papery, sac-like seed pods that resemble the fruit of hops. The birch-like, sharply-serrated leaves turn an undistinguished yellow in fall, and reddish-brown male catkins persist on the bare branches through winter. Also called ironwood for its extremely hard, dense wood; tough, low-maintenance, and drought-tolerant once established.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Ostrya virginiana

American hophornbeam

A medium-to-large native shade tree of central and eastern North America, reaching 50 to 80 feet with an ovate-rounded crown and large, asymmetric heart-shaped leaves. In June it carries pale-yellow, intensely fragrant flowers on pendulous cymes - each cluster hung from a distinctive strap-like leafy bract - that ripen into pea-sized nutlets. The fragrant June bloom is a premier nectar source: Missouri Botanical Garden lists it as attracting bees and butterflies, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center flags it as having special value to both native and honey bees.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Tilia americana

American basswood

A massive native deciduous canopy tree of eastern North American floodplain forests producing distinctive mottled white-tan-gray exfoliating bark (the design-defining trait - sycamore bark looks like military camouflage), large palmate maple-like leaves, and persistent spherical seed balls. Among the largest deciduous trees in eastern North America - old-growth specimens exceed 150 feet tall + 10 feet trunk diameter. Site only where massive scale is acceptable.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Platanus occidentalis

American sycamore

One of the world's most spectacular flowering trees and, in the same breath, one of its most dangerous invaders. Spathodea campanulata is a large, fast-growing tropical tree native to the moist forests of West and Central Africa (GBIF), carrying a dense crown of glossy compound leaves topped by showy, upturned clusters of big, frilly, scarlet-to-orange, tulip-shaped flowers (the boat-shaped buds hold water). It is glorious - and it is a serious invasive. The African tulip tree is listed among the IUCN "100 of the world's worst invasive species"; outside its native range it has overrun wet-tropical forests across the Pacific, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and parts of Asia and Australia, and its flowers can be lethal to native bees. Plant it ONLY where it is genuinely native or where it cannot escape, and first check that it is not prohibited locally - do not plant it in any tropical region where it can naturalise. It is frost-tender (USDA 10a-11), fast, and wants full sun and moisture; in cold-winter climates it is grown only as a tender container specimen kept frost-free. It is an ornamental, not a food plant.

Better fit now and in 2050

Now: well-suited

2050: well-suited

Similar plants

Browse lateral options with similar roles, light needs, size, or native-range overlap; these are not filtered for a better climate fit.

Spathodea campanulata

African tulip tree

A dense, conical-to-narrow-pyramidal evergreen tree native to eastern and central North America, prized as a screening and foundation conifer. Flat, fan-like sprays of scale-like, aromatic yellow-green foliage clothe the tree from the ground up, and red-brown bark exfoliates on mature trunks. Wild trees can reach 40 to 60 feet but cultivated plants typically stay near 20 to 30 feet; small urn-shaped cones and dense evergreen cover make it valuable food and shelter for birds.

A medium-to-large native shade tree of central and eastern North America, reaching 50 to 80 feet with an ovate-rounded crown and large, asymmetric heart-shaped leaves. In June it carries pale-yellow, intensely fragrant flowers on pendulous cymes - each cluster hung from a distinctive strap-like leafy bract - that ripen into pea-sized nutlets. The fragrant June bloom is a premier nectar source: Missouri Botanical Garden lists it as attracting bees and butterflies, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center flags it as having special value to both native and honey bees.

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The American elm is the great vase-shaped shade tree that once arched over Main Streets and town commons across eastern North America - a fast, extremely cold-hardy deciduous tree of 60 to 80 feet whose upright trunk divides into a fountain of high, spreading limbs that meet overhead to form a living cathedral ceiling. That iconic form, and the species' tolerance of wet soil and tough urban conditions, made it the default American street tree for a century. Then Dutch elm disease (DED) - an introduced fungal disease carried by elm bark beetles - swept through in the 20th century and killed the vast majority of mature street and shade elms across the continent. The honest reality for a gardener today is blunt: do not plant the unselected wild species expecting it to survive. If you want the American-elm form, plant a DED-tolerant cultivar bred and selected for resistance - 'Princeton', 'Valley Forge', 'New Harmony', or 'Jefferson' - and say so plainly. Where it does grow, it is fast, hardy to USDA zone 3, and remarkably forgiving of wet ground and city stress.

The only native U.S. holly with both spiny green leaves and bright red berries - an upright, pyramidal, broadleaf evergreen tree that slowly matures to 15 to 30 feet in cultivation (to 50 feet in the wild). Thick, leathery, deep green leaves bear spiny marginal teeth, and pollinated female trees carry showy red-to-orange drupes that ripen in fall and persist through winter as bird food. This is the classic "Christmas holly" of wreaths and decorations.