Natives For Your Neighborhood
Conservation of rare plants, animals, and ecosystems

General Landscape Uses: Wildflower and rock gardens.

Ecological Restoration Notes: A common understory wildflower in prairies, wet pinelands and depression marshes. Rare in pine rocklands subjected to drainage.

Availability: Native plant nurseries. Available in Lake Worth at Amelia's SmartyPlants (561-540-6296), in Fort Myers at All Native Garden Center (239-939-9663) and in Boynton Beach at Sustainscape (561-245-5305).

Description: Medium annual herb with attractive heads of yellow flowers.

Dimensions: Typically 1-3 feet in height. Much taller than broad.

Growth Rate: Fast.

Range: Alabama and northern Florida south to the Monroe County Keys. In the Monroe County Keys, disjunct from Miami-Dade County to Big Pine Key.

 Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.

 Map of suggested ZIP codes from South Florida north to southern Brevard, Osceola, Polk, and Pasco counties.

 Map of ZIP codes with habitat recommendations from the Monroe County Keys north to Martin and Charlotte counties.

Habitats: Pinelands and prairies.

Soils: Wet to moist, moderately well-drained to seasonally inundated soils.

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: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.

Light Requirements: Full sun.

Flower Color: Yellow ray flowers and yellow and brown disk flowers.

Flower Characteristics: Showy heads, 1/2-1" wide.

Flowering Season: All year.

Fruit: Inconspicuous achene.

Wildlife and Ecology: Nectar plant for Miami blue (Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri), southern broken-dash (Wallengrenia otho) and other butterflies. Provides seeds and insects for birds.

Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed.

References: Hammer 2004

Comments: The Florida state wildflower. This is an annual that recruits readily in the landscape in exposed soil. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's Flower Friday page.