General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Ecological Restoration Notes: An occasional understory herb in pine rocklands.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts.
Description: Small, fine-textured grasslike herb.
Dimensions: Typically 3-6 inches in height; to 12 inches when in flower. About as broad as tall.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Monroe and Miami-Dade counties; disjunct in Citrus and Hernando counties; West Indies, Mexico, Central America, South America and the Old World tropics. In the Monroe County Keys, disjunct from Miami-Dade County to Bahia Honda, Big Pine Key and nearby islands.
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of ZIP codes with habitat recommendations from the Monroe County Keys north to Martin and Charlotte counties.
Habitats: Pine rocklands, marl prairie and coastal uplands.
Soils: Moist, well-drained 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: Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.
Drought Tolerance: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: Yellowish-green inflorescence.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous.
Flowering Season: All year.
Fruit: Inconspicuous achene.
Wildlife and Ecology: Possible larval host plant for grass-skipper butterflies.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed.
Comments: A very attractive small fine-textured herb for sunny rockland gardens.
