General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also an accent open groundcover in shady areas. Identified by Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden as a native that does especially well in shade in this
brochure.
Availability:
Rarely grown by native plant nurseries.
Description: Large herbaceous, almost woody grass.
Dimensions: About 3-6 feet in height, sometimes more when climbing into other vegetation. Taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Monroe County Keys north, mostly along the coasts, to Brevard and Lee counties; West Indies, Mexico, Central America and South America. Very rare north of the Miami River in southeastern Florida. Perhaps never present or extirpated in Broward County; perhaps extirpated in Palm Beach County; known from one location in Martin County.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Hammocks.
Soils: Moist, well-drained limestone or sandy 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 flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: Moderate; generally requires moist soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.
Light Requirements: Light shade.
Flower Color: Greenish inflorescence.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous.
Flowering Season: Summer-fall.
Fruit: Shiny black caryopsis.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed.
Comments: Looks like a miniature bamboo.
