General Landscape Uses:
Water gardens and along pond and lake edges.
Ecological Restoration Notes: A common understory element of freshwater marshes.
Availability:
Widely cultivated.
Description: Medium herbaceous wildflower from a basal rosette. Leaves strap-like, leathery, 1-4 feet long.
Dimensions: Typically 2-3 feet in height. About as broad as tall, the flowers emerging taller.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Southeastern United States west to Texas and south to Miami-Dade County and the Monroe County mainland; West Indies (Cuba, Jamaica).
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: Marshes and swamps.
Soils: Wet to moist, seasonally inundated organic soils.
Nutritional Requirements: High; requires rich organic soils for optimal growth.
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 or moderate shade.
Flower Color: White.
Flower Characteristics: Showy. Fragrant.
Flowering Season: Spring-fall.
Fruit: Green fleshy capsule.
Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host for Spanish moth (
Xanthopastis timais).
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed and division.
References: Nelson 2003
Comments: Luber grasshoppers chew the leaves. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's
Flower Friday page.
