This has just a single trunk, but it's shrub-sized, very floriferous, very fragrant. It's well past peak bloom, was surely a knock-out. Leaves are alternate, very stiff and upright; new leaves are caramel-coloured, tomentose top and bottom, but old leaves seem to have no hairs. Serrations go not quite to the leaf base. It's the only one I've seen in my neighbourhood, or maybe ever. Or else I just haven't been paying attention.
Wow - a shrub Nadia tried to teach me in Honolulu, with smaller single white flowers (these are 2.5cm in diameter), and a lot of blue fruits in the wintertime. I didn't think of that for a minute - had no idea it would grow here. I'm seeing R. indica 'Pink Lady' or 'Ballerina', or 'Jack Evans', which I see described as having double pink flowers, but photos show single pink. As cited on the linked page above, this sheet from the Florida/IFAS website, developed by Dr. Ed Gilman, http://hort.ufl.edu/shrubs/RAPINDA.PDF, says it's fall blooming (which we saw in Honolulu) and is hardy to zone 8. I've been claiming that the West End where I live is pretty tropical, but I don't think it's supposed to be zone 8. Maybe this cultivar was developed for cooler climates and changed its blooming time accordingly?
We saw Raphiolepis with white single flowers in Darts Hill Garden, on the hill with other rare exotic plants. I would say Raphiolepis is in bloom whole year. I remember flowers in fall and in spring too. Of course, it can be something else what I have never seen:))
Uh-huh, not paying attention. Here is one in a planter next door to the Sylvia Hotel, two blocks from me, across from the beach. I pass by there pretty often. I have the idea that I photographed this once before, but since I had no name for it, I can't imagine how I would find it now. This seems a little different from the other, so maybe a different cultivar, though more likely that with so few in town, what came in would all be the same. It would be nice to catch this some year at peak bloom, but if it really blooms all year, maybe it always looks like this. The single white ones in Honolulu had fruits at the same time as flowers.
Different...more petals..leaves serrated. Maybe Rhaphiolepis montic Majestic Beauty. Seems to be confusion over name. Trees of Santa Cruz County: Rhaphiolepis 'Montic' - Majestic Beauty Indian Hawthorn
Thanks for the name and the link, Silver surfer. I see these are called trees on that site - a photo shows them as street trees, and they commonly grow to 10-12 feet (a little under 4 meters).
