Landscape Uses:
	Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also spiny buffer plantings.
Ecological Restoration Notes:
Availability:
	Grown by enthusiasts.
Description:
	Medium to large succulent shrub with erect or arching stems covered with short spines.
Height:
	About 6-12 feet in height. Usually taller than broad, but sometimes spreading and forming large open patches.
Growth Rate:
	Moderate to fast.
Range:
	Monroe and Miami-Dade counties; disjunct in St. Lucie, Indian River and Brevard counties, where apparently extirpated. Very rare in the middle Florida Keys.
Habitats:
	Coastal hammocks and thickets.
Soils:
	Moist, well-drained limestone or 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:
	Moderate; tolerates brackish water or occasional inundation by salt water.
Salt Wind Tolerance:
	Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.
Drought Tolerance:
	Moderate; generally requires moist soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.
Light Requirements:
	Light shade to full sun.
Flower Color:
	White.
Flower Characteristics:
	Showy, but open only at night.
Flowering Season:
	All year.
Fruit:
	Large, red berry. Edible.
Wildlife and Ecology:
Horticultural Notes:
	Easily grown from seed. It can also be grown from stem cuttings with the base planted about 2" in the ground.
Comments:
	Very spiny throughout. It is listed as endangered by the state of Florida. See also Florida Natural Areas Inventory's Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Florida page (Chafin 2000).