General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Ecological Restoration Notes: A common coastal plant, but most frequent in tidal marshes.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts and occasionally by native plant nurseries.
Description: Small creeping herb.
Dimensions: Typically 2-4 inches in height or smaller. Spreading along the ground and forming mats.
Growth Rate: Moderate to fast.
Range:
Monroe County Keys north to Volusia and Levy counties; Louisiana and Texas; West Indies, Mexico, Central America, South America and western Africa.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of suggested ZIP codes from South Florida north to southern Brevard, Osceola, Polk, and Pasco counties.
Map of ZIP codes with habitat recommendations from the Monroe County Keys north to Martin and Charlotte counties.
Habitats: Coastal wetlands and, less frequently, coastal uplands.
Soils: Wet to moist, periodically inundated brackish or saline soils.
Nutritional Requirements: Moderate; can grow in nutrient poor soils, but needs some organic content to thrive.
Salt Water Tolerance: High; tolerates flooding by salt water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: High; can tolerate moderate amounts of salt wind without significant injury.
Drought Tolerance: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: White.
Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy.
Flowering Season: All year; peak in spring.
Fruit: Inconspicuous utricle.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from cuttings.
References: Miami-Dade County Landscape Manual
(2005).
