General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Ecological Restoration Notes: A somewhat weedy understory element of a wide variety of wetland ecosystems. Will recruit into restoration sites.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts.
Description: Small annual herb with erect stems.
Dimensions: Typically 2-12 inches in height or sometimes more. About as broad as tall.
Growth Rate: Fast.
Range:
Scattered in North America south to the Monroe County Keys; West Indies, Mexico, Central America, South America and Old World tropics. In the Monroe County Keys, apparently disjunct from the Miami-Dade County mainland 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: Freshwater and brackish marshes.
Soils: Wet to moist, seasonally inundated freshwater or brackish soils.
Nutritional Requirements: Moderate to low; it prefers soils with organic content, but will still grow reasonably well in nutrient poor soils.
Salt Water Tolerance: Moderate; tolerates brackish water or occasional inundation by salt 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: Brown inflorescence.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous.
Flowering Season: All year.
Fruit: Inconspicuous achene.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed or divisions.
Comments: Recruits readily from seed in the garden, but is not really aggressive.
