General Landscape Uses:
Accent or specimen vine.
Availability:
Grown by one or two native plant nurseries in South Florida. Available in Boynton Beach at
Native Choice Nursery (561-756-4370).
Description: Twining vine.
Dimensions: N/A; a vine with stems to 6 feet or more in length.
Growth Rate: Fast.
Range:
Monroe County Keys north to Miami-Dade and Collier counties; West Indies, Mexico, Central America and South America; cultivated and naturalized elsewhere. Rare throughout its range in South Florida. In Miami-Dade County, limited to Everglades National Park and adjacent areas to the east of Long Pine Key. Apparently not native to and introduced in Broward County.
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: Hammock edges, thickets and marl prairies.
Soils: Moist, well-drained limestone or calcareous 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 long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: High; can tolerate moderate amounts of salt wind without significant injury.
Drought Tolerance: Moderate; generally requires moist soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: Light (sky) blue with a white throat.
Flower Characteristics: Showy, about 3/4" wide; usually closing by midafternoon.
Flowering Season: All year; peak in fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous capsule.
Wildlife and Ecology: Provides food for birds. Nectar plant for nessus sphinx (Amphion floridensis), tantalus sphinx (Aellopus tantalus) and tersa sphinx (Xylophanes tersa) moths.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed.
References: Hammer 2004
Comments: Skyblue clustervine is widely planted outside of its historic range and is escaping from cultivation. In the right conditions it can be fairly aggressive. It is listed as endangered by the State of Florida. Taxonomy:
J. pentantha is an orthographic variant. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's
Flower Friday page and Florida Natural Areas Inventory's
Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Florida page (Chafin 2000).
