Leitneria floridana (corkwood), the sole species in the genus Leitneria, is a deciduous dioecious shrub or small tree, found only in the southern United States states of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri and Texas.
It grows at damp habitats, mostly in coastal areas and has extremely light wood with a density less than that of cork.
[2] A single, strongly compressed endocarp has been collected from the sediments of the Villa San Faustino site in Italy.
This isolated specimen demonstrates that †Leitneria venosa persisted in Italy until the Early Pleistocene.
In northern Italy several endocarps of L. venosa have been found at the top of the Cervo River of Late Pliocene age.