General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Ecological Restoration Notes: A common understory herb in hammocks nearly throughout South Florida.
Availability:
Rarely grown by native plant nurseries.
Description: Small herbaceous wildflower.
Dimensions: About 6-9 inches in height; 12-15 inches when in flower. Taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
North Key Largo in the Monroe County Keys, Miami-Dade and Collier counties north to Duval, Bradford and Levy counties; 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: Moist forests and swamps.
Soils: Moist, well-drained sandy or limestone soils, with humusy top layer.
Nutritional Requirements: Moderate; can grow in nutrient poor soils, but needs some organic content to thrive.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish 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: Light shade to moderate shade.
Flower Color: Green.
Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy.
Flowering Season: Fall-winter.
Fruit: Capsule containing numerous minute seeds.
Comments: See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's
Flower Friday page.
