While this plant needs both male and female to produce fruit, my local nursery told me that as long as you plant at least 3 of them, one plant will transgender to ensure both genders are represented. This is especially useful to know when you're buying plants that are so young it's hard to accurately determine their gender. (the reason they recommended 3 was to ensure a better chance of getting both genders)

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I saw a number of this broadleaf evergreen shrub in the southern part of the Delmarva Peninsula while driving down to South Carolina. It is native to the coastal plain from southern New Jersey into the Florida Keys to eastern Texas and southeast Oklahoma down into Central America. The leathery, shiny deep green leaves range from 1.5 to 4.5 inches long by 1/3 to 2 inches wide and have the wonderful bayberry fragrance when crushed. The female plants bear the gray, globose fruits about 1/8 inch wide and massed in clusters of 2 to 6 on the previous season's growth. This large shrub is usually about 10 to 15 feet high and wide; sometimes to 20 feet high and even to about 30 feet high. It makes a great evergreen screen and can be limbed up by pruning to make a nice small tree with nice gray bark. There are a number of compact and dwarf cultivars available.

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