General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Ecological Restoration Notes: A common undestory herb in a wide variety of open uplands.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts.
Description: Small herbaceous wildflower.
Dimensions: Typically 4-12 inches in height. Sometimes as broad as tall and sometimes taller than broad.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Eastern and southern United States west to Louisiana and south to the Monroe County Keys. In the Monroe County Keys, disjunct from Miami-Dade County to the pine rocklands of Big Pine Key.
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: Pinelands and coastal uplands.
Soils: Moist to dry, well-drained sandy or 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: High; can tolerate moderate amounts of salt wind without significant injury.
Drought Tolerance: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: White.
Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy.
Flowering Season: All year; peak summer-fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous capsule.
Comments: The entire plant is covered with stinging hairs, thus the common name "tread-softly." See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's
Flower Friday page.
