General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Availability:
Available at native plant nurseries in central Florida.
Description: Large herbaceous grass.
Dimensions: Typically 3-6 feet in height; to 10 feet when in flower. Usually taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Eastern United States west to Texas and south to Miami-Dade and Collier counties; Cuba.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Marshes and marl prairies.
Soils: Wet to moist, poorly drained to moderately well-drained sandy or calcareous soils, with or without humus.
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: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: Brownish inflorescence.
Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy inflorescence.
Flowering Season: Fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous caryopsis.
Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host plant for clouded skipper (
Lerema accius) butterflies.
Comments: See also a 2022 post on the
Treasure Coast Natives blog about the genetics and pollination of
Saccharum giganteum.
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