Copyright by: James Johnson, 2014 In habitat, Everglades National Park, Florida Expand
General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also wildflower gardens.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts and occasionally by native plant nurseries.
Description: Small herbaceous wildflower.
Dimensions: About 4-8 inches in height. Usually taller than broad, but sometimes falling over and forming small patches.
Growth Rate: Fast.
Range:
Southern United States south to the Monroe County Keys; West Indies. In the Monroe County Keys, apparently disjunct from Miami-Dade County to the pine rocklands of Big Pine Key; also collected once on Key Largo, but perhaps introduced there.
Soils: Moist to seasonally wet, well- to moderately 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: Yellow.
Flower Characteristics: Showy, about 3/4" wide.
Flowering Season: All year; peak spring-fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous, globose 3-valved capsule containing light brown to gray pitted seeds.
Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host for Gulf fritillary butterflies. For an excellent article on uses by Gulf fritillary butterflies and other insects see this article by Rufino Osorio in The Palmetto.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed.
Comments: See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's Flower Friday page.
Copyright by: James Johnson, 2014 In habitat, Everglades National Park, Florida Expand
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
