Landscape Uses:
	Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also wildflower gardens.
Ecological Restoration Notes:
	A fairly uncommon understory herb in a variety of mesic and wetland ecosytems, but occasionally becoming abundant in small areas.
Availability:
	Rarely grown by native plant nurseries.
Description:
	Medium herbaceous wildflower with grass-like leaves.
Height:
	Typically 1-2 feet in height; up to 5 feet when in flower. Generally taller than broad.
Growth Rate:
	Slow.
Range:
	Monroe County Keys north to Palm Beach and Lee counties; disjunct in Polk County; West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. In the Monroe County Keys, disjunct from Miami-Dade County to the pine rocklands of Big Pine Key and nearby islands. Not documented on barrier islands in South Florida, but possibly historically present; it grows well at Pan’s Garden in Palm Beach.
Habitats:
	Pinelands, marshes and swamps.
Soils:
	Moist to seasonally wet, well-drained to poorly-drained sandy, limestone, or organic soils; also found on stumps and floating logs in swamps.
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:
	Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.
Drought Tolerance:
	Moderate to low; requires moist to wet soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.
Light Requirements:
	Full sun to light shade.
Flower Color:
	Pale pink to bright rose-pink, with yellow on the lateral sepals and lip.
Flower Characteristics:
	Showy, 1/2-3/4" wide.
Flowering Season:
	Winter-summer; peak in spring.
Fruit:
	Green capsule with dust-like seeds.
Wildlife and Ecology:
	In Florida, all plants are self-pollinating. In the West Indies, the flowers are pollinated by bees that do not occur in South Florida.
Horticultural Notes:
	Can be grown from division and seed.
Comments:
	It is listed as threatened by the state of Florida. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's Flower Friday page.