General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Ecological Restoration Notes: A common undestory herb in a wide variety of open uplands.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts.
Description: Small herbaceous wildflower.
Dimensions: Typically 4-12 inches in height. Sometimes as broad as tall and sometimes taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Eastern and southern United States west to Louisiana and south to the Monroe County Keys. In the Monroe County Keys, disjunct from Miami-Dade County to the pine rocklands of Big Pine Key.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Pinelands and coastal uplands.
Soils: Moist to dry, 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: White.
Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy.
Flowering Season: All year; peak summer-fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous capsule.
Comments: The entire plant is covered with stinging hairs, thus the common name "tread-softly." See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's
Flower Friday page.
