General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also butterfly gardens and water gardens and along pond and lake edges.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts.
Description: Small creeping herb.
Dimensions: About 1-2 inches in height. Spreading and forming large open or dense patches.
Growth Rate: Fast.
Range:
Widespread in the eastern and central United States south to the Monroe County Keys; Bahamas.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Primarily disturbed areas, including lawns, but also found in hammocks and near water bodies.
Soils: Wet to moist, well-drained to poorly drained sandy, limestone or organic soils, with or without humus.
Nutritional Requirements: Moderate to low; it prefers soils with organic content, but will still grow reasonably well in nutrient poor soils.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Secondary line; tolerates significant salt wind without injury, but usually is somewhat protected.
Drought Tolerance: Moderate; generally requires moist soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.
Light Requirements: Light shade to full sun.
Flower Color: Greenish.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous.
Flowering Season: Spring-fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous capsule.
Horticultural Notes: Easily grown from divisions of creeping, rooted stems, but keep moist at all times.
Comments: Can be weedy in the garden, but covers ground and competes with less desirable plants. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's
Flower Friday page.
