White Squirrel-banana

This species is a small shrub growing not more than half a meter tall from a taproot. The leathery leaf blades are somewhat oval, oblong, or spatula-shaped, measuring 4 to 7 centimeters in length. The inflorescence is a solitary flower nodding or held upright on a short peduncle. The sweet-scented flowers have varying numbers of fleshy white or pink-tinged petals that measure 2 or 3 centimeters long. The sweet fragrance of the flowers in this species is caused by benzenoid compounds including veratrole, and the alcohol linalool. Its pollen is shed as permanent tetrads. The flowers are pollinated by a number of insects, including the beetle Mordella atrata and the thrips species Frankliniella bispinosa and Thrips hawaiiensis. The fruit is a large yellow-green berry that may be up to 7 centimeters long. One flower may yield several fruits. The berry contains a few seeds each about a centimeter long or slightly larger. This plant sometimes hybridizes with its relative, Asimina reticulata.

It is endemic to Florida in the United States, where there are perhaps 5000 plants remaining in severely fragmented habitat spread across three counties: Charlotte, Lee, and Orange County. This plant occurs in slash pine woods on sandy substrates among other plant species, including saw palmetto, fetterbush (Lyonia lucida), shiny blueberry (Vaccinium myrsinites), dwarf live oak (Quercus minima), and tarflower (Bejaria racemosa). The Orange County occurrences are about 100 miles disjunct from the Charlotte and Lee populations.