Natives For Your Neighborhood
Conservation of rare plants, animals, and ecosystems

General Landscape Uses: Informal groundcover or low-climbing vine.

Availability: Native plant nurseries. Available in Sanibel at the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation , in Miami at Pro Native Consulting , in Fort Myers at All Native Garden Center , in Groveland at Green Isle Gardens , in Lake Worth at Amelia's SmartyPlants and in Boynton Beach at Sustainscape .

Description: Low climbing herbaceous vine with extremely variable leaves.

Dimensions: N/A; a vine with stems to 2 feet or more in length. Sometimes spreading horizontally and forming large open or dense patches.

Growth Rate: Fast.

Range: Monroe County Keys north to Duval, Lake and Dixie counties; West Indies, Texas, Mexico, Central America and South America.

 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: Moist forests and pinelands.

Soils: Moist, well-drained sandy or limestone soils, with or without humusy top layer.

Nutritional Requirements: Moderate to low; it prefers soils with organic content, but will still grow reasonably well in nutrient poor soils.

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: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.

Light Requirements: Light shade to full sun.

Flower Color: Greenish to yellowish.

Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy but small. Petals are absent.

Flowering Season: All year.

Fruit: Purple-black globose berry. Edible.

Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host plant for gulf fritillary (Agraulis vanillae), julia (Dryas iulia) and zebra longwing (Heliconius charitonius) butterflies. Attracts bee pollinators.

Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed. Smash mature fruit on paper towel or place in blender with water and grind just enough to break up the berries; strain and place on paper towel. When dry, scrape seed onto surface of soil. Do not cover. Place containter in light shade.

References: Miami-Dade County Landscape Manual (2005).

Comments: One of the best larval host plants for butterflies.