General Landscape Uses:
Accent shrub.
Availability:
Native plant nurseries.
Description: Medium or small succulent shub armed with gray spines.
Dimensions: Typically 2-4 feet in height. Usually about as broad and tall.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Eastern United States west to Montana and New Mexico and south to the Monroe County Keys. In the Monroe County Keys, disjunct from Miami-Dade County to the pine rocklands of Big Pine Key, where very rare or extirpated.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Pinelands and open coastal uplands.
Soils: Moist to dry, 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: Frontline; grows in direct salt wind but away from constant salt spray.
Drought Tolerance: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: Yellow.
Flower Characteristics: Showy.
Flowering Season: All year; peak spring-summer.
Fruit: Red to purplish berry. Edible. Highly ornamental.
Wildlife and Ecology: Attracts insect pollinators. Nectar plant for dotted skipper (Hesperia attalus) butterflies.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from cuttings and seed. For cuttings, break off mature pad at joint. Let dry for a few days. Set cut end in potting soil several inches deep. Water every 2-3 days. Roots will form soon and initial growth will be rapid. Good drainage is essential.
References: A Gardener's Guide to Florida's Native Plants
Comments: Part of a species complex with significant variation that has been undergoing signifiant taxonomic revision. Local sources are best used. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's
Flower Friday page.
