General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Ecological Restoration Notes: A common understory grass in a wide variety of pinelands and prairies.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts.
Description: Small herbaceous grass.
Dimensions: About 6-12 inches in height. Taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Fast.
Range:
Eastern and central United States west to Texas and south to the Monroe County Keys; West Indies, Mexico, Central America and northern South America. 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.
Soils: Moist, 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: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: Brownish inflorescence.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous.
Flowering Season: Spring-fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous caryopsis.
Wildlife and Ecology: In central Florida, it is the larval host plant for tawny-edged skipper (Potites themistocles).
