General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Ecological Restoration Notes: The dominant species of much of the Everglades. Also present in a number of other wetland ecosystems including wet pinelands.
Availability:
Available at native plant nurseries in central and South Florida.
Description: Large herbaceous sedge with saw-toothes leaf margins.
Dimensions: Typically 3-6 feet in height; to 10 feet when in flower. Clonal and sometimes spreading and forming large patches.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Southern United States west to New Mexico and south to the Monroe County Keys; West Indies, Mexico, Central America and South America.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Marshes, wet prairies and wet pinelands.
Soils: Wet, seasonally inundated freshwater to brackish soils on a variety of substrates.
Nutritional Requirements: Moderate; can grow in nutrient poor soils, but needs some organic content to thrive.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low to moderate; may tolerate some brackish water or occasional inundation by salt water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.
Drought Tolerance: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.
Light Requirements: Full sun to light shade.
Flower Color: Brown inflorescence.
Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy inflorescence.
Flowering Season: Summer-fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous achene.
Wildlife and Ecology: This is the dominant species of the Everglades marsh, especially in the Shark River Slough. Larval host plant for Palatka skipper (Euphyes pilatka) butterflies.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed.
Comments: Sawgrass is aptly named as the edges of the leaves are armed with tiny, sawlike prickles. Technically it is not a grass, but a sedge.
