Cyrilla Genus

Cyrilla is a genus of flowering plant in the family Cyrillaceae, order Ericales, described by Linnaeus in 1767. It is monotypic, containing a single, variable species, Cyrilla racemiflora, though some botanists have in the past split it into several segregate species (synonyms include C. antillana, C. arida, C. brevifolia, C. caroliniana, C. cubensis, C. fuscata, C. nipensis, C. nitidissima, C. parvifolia, C. perrottetii, and C. polystachia); it is now generally treated as one widespread, morphologically variable species.

Known by common names such as swamp cyrilla, swamp titi, red titi, black titi, white titi, leatherwood, ironwood, he-huckleberry, and myrtle, the genus is native to warm temperate to tropical parts of the Americas, ranging from the southeastern United States (coastal areas from southeastern Texas to southeastern Virginia) south through the Caribbean, Oaxaca in Mexico, and Central America to northern Brazil and Venezuela.

Growth habit varies markedly across this range: in tropical rainforests it forms a large tree reaching 15 m (49 ft) or more in height and over 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in diameter, while at the cooler, northern edge of its range it is reduced to a shrub up to 4 m (13 ft) tall. Plants are primarily evergreen, though some leaves turn brilliant red before falling in autumn, and individuals at the northern range limit tend toward deciduousness. The alternate, simple leaves are oblanceolate to oval and thick-textured, and the small white, five-petaled flowers are borne in dense racemes 8–15 cm long on the previous year's growth, followed by small yellow-brown capsule fruits. Bark on mature trees is reddish-brown and shaggy, becoming smoother and grayer on younger stems.

The genus favors wet, acidic habitats, including rainforests, swamps, streambanks, bogs, bayheads, wet prairies, low pinelands, pocosins, and flatwood depressions with sandy or peaty soils.