Landscape Uses:
	Accent tree in wet areas and along ponds and lakes edges.
Ecological Restoration Notes:
Availability:
	Commonly available at native plant nurseries in central Florida. Available at native plant nurseries in northeast and South Florida.
Description:
	Small tree to medium tree or large shrub with a speading, open, irregular crown. Trunks short, often leaning. Bark gray, roughened with ridges and furrows. Leaves temperate deciduous, light green, long and narrow, to about 8 inches long.
Height:
	Typically 15-30 feet in height in South Florida; to 68 feet in Florida. Often as broad as tall or broader.
Growth Rate:
	Fast.
Range:
	Eastern and central United States west to Texas and south to Miami-Dade County and the Monroe County mainland. For a digitized image of Elbert Little's Florida range map, visit the Exploring Florida website. Note: Little's map shows S. caroliniana distributed in the Florida Keys; this appears to be an error.
Habitats:
	Wet thickets and swamps.
Soils:
	Wet to moist, moderately well-drained to poorly-drained organic soils.
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:
	Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.
Drought Tolerance:
	Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.
Light Requirements:
	Full sun to light shade.
Flower Color:
	Greenish-yellow.
Flower Characteristics:
	Semi-showy catkins.
Flowering Season:
	Spring.
Fruit:
	Capsule containing wind dispersed seeds.
Wildlife and Ecology:
	Provides some food and significant cover for wildlife. Only native larval host plant for viceroy (Limenitis archippus) butterflies; also larval host for (Automeris io) moths. Attracts bee pollinators.
Horticultural Notes:
	Can be grown from seed and cuttings (including root cuttings).
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