Marcelina Martínez says the little grapefruit tree in her backyard has healing powers.
''I send the leaves to my daughters in New York so they can make tea for the kids when they're sick,'' she said. ``It's good for colds, diarrhea -- anything.''
But her tree could be bad for the state's $9 billion-a-year citrus industry, and has been earmarked by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for removal. The state says her tree is infected with citrus canker.
The canker crews that caused a stir in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and triggered a rash of lawsuits several years ago are scheduled to return this month. The cutting could begin as soon as this week.
The chain-saw-toting work crews have unfinished business: 170,000 exposed or infected trees throughout South Florida that the state says pose a threat to citrus groves to the north. Some 650,000 trees have already been cut down.
Martínez said she was unaware her home, at 121 NW 188th St., was on a list of 500 residences in the northernmost swath of Miami-Dade County, the first group to be targeted by canker crews when cutting resumes.
State officials have obtained court orders granting them access to the properties. It doesn't matter if the owners are not present or oppose the cutting.
A spokesman for the Agriculture Department, Mark Fagan, said most of the homes on the list should have received notice from the state in the form of an ''immediate final order.'' The order allows homeowners to challenge the removal in court, provided they pay a $250 filing fee. Few if any appeals have been filed, he said.
''These are properties that for whatever reason we have not been able to get on in recent attempts, so in this case we're going to use the warrants,'' Fagan said.
He said properties on the list -- spanning Hialeah, Opa-locka and Aventura -- have been visited at least three times by members of the department's public relations team. But nobody was home.
The teams try to get homeowners' permission to remove trees before the work crews arrive. In some cases, that might not prove easy.
Terry Halston's dog, a black Great Dane, is decidedly unfriendly to strangers, and Halston said the dog would bite him if he tried to restrain him if works crews visit.
POINTLESS CUTTING
''There's no reason to cut down these trees,'' said Halston, who lives at 2885 NE 213th St. in a leafy Aventura enclave. ``They don't seem to be under attack -- at least mine don't. My kids pick fruit from them all the time and there's no sign of . . . infestation.''
Halston said he had not received the state order either, which Fagan confirmed. But Fagan said the property would be visited all the same. Trees there, he said, are within 1,900 feet of an infected tree, and that means they will have to be chopped down.
''While a tree that tests positive for canker can look healthy, it could still be harboring the bacteria,'' he said. ``Eventually, it will show signs of the disease. Once it does show the signs, it can spread the disease to other trees.
``That's why it's important to get them before they show visible signs.''
Shamin Mandani, who lives at 2632 NE 214th St., could also be in for an unpleasant surprise. She said state agricultural inspectors had already visited her property, and gave her trees a clean bill of health.
''They gave me a note saying my lemon tree is OK,'' Mandani said. ``They checked it in March or April and put a white tag on it so it won't get removed.''
That's not necessarily the case, Fagan said. He said Mandani must have confused state inspectors with those from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's med-fly program.
''It's still going to be removed,'' he said.
As in the past, owners will be compensated with a $100 gift certificate redeemable in Wal-Mart's gardening department for the first tree and $55 in cash for each additional tree destroyed, Fagan said.
NO CITRUS HERE
A number of people whose homes are on the state list say the crews won't find any citrus trees on their land.
''I got a letter about that,'' said Jeanne Joseph, of 160 NW 188th St. ``They talked to me about one tree, and I don't have any [citrus] trees in my backyard. I don't even have a mango tree.''
A neighbor, Richard Lindsey of 265 NW 187th St., said he was equally confused.
''No citrus tree here, only a banana tree,'' he said.
Aaron Hill, who lives down the street at 691 NW 187th St., said state workers cut down his two orange trees a few years back.
``We don't have any citrus trees anyway. They came and cut them down the last time. So we didn't plant any more. We won't plant any more until they say we're free to plant.''