General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also butterfly gardens.
Ecological Restoration Notes: An occasional understory grass in a wide variety of open upland and wetland ecosytems.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts and occasionally by native plant nurseries.
Description: Medium herbaceous clumping grass.
Dimensions: Typically 1-2 feet in height; to 3 feet when in flower. Typically taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Fast.
Range:
Eastern United States west to Texas and south to the Monroe County Keys; West Indies, Mexico and Central America.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Pinelands, prairies and coastal uplands.
Soils: Moist to seasonally wet, well-drained sandy or limestone soils, without humus.
Nutritional Requirements: Low; it grows in nutrient poor soils.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: High; can tolerate moderate amounts of salt wind without significant injury.
Drought Tolerance: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: Light brown inflorescence.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous.
Flowering Season: Summer-fall.
Fruit: Noticable caryopsis with three long awns.
Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host for Meske's skipper (Hesperia meskei).
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed.
Comments: Spreads readily from seed in the garden and can become weedy. Our treatment here includes Hillsboro threeawn (A. purpurascens var. tenuispica).
