General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also wildflower gardens in the Florida Keys.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts.
Description: Medium to large herbaceous wildflower, rarely woody at the base.
Dimensions: About 1-4 feet in height. Usually taller than broad or forming small masses about as broad as tall.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Monroe and Miami-Dade counties; West Indies, Mexico and Guatemala. Rare in the Monroe County Keys, where mostly restricted to coastal rock barrens. On the mainland, known only from Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park in Miami-Dade County and the Loop Road area of Big Cypress National Preserve in Monroe County.
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: Rockland hammock edges and thickets.
Soils: Moist, well-drained limestone soils, with or without humusy top layer.
Nutritional Requirements: Moderate to low; it prefers soils with organic content, but will still grow reasonably well in nutrient poor soils.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: Moderate; generally requires moist soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun to light shade.
Flower Color: Red.
Flower Characteristics: Showy pendent flowers are solitary from the leaf axils, about 3/4" long.
Flowering Season: All year.
Fruit: Inconspicuous capsule with fuzzy seeds.
Wildlife and Ecology: Ants feed on the flower nectar.
References: Hammer 2004
Comments: It is listed as endangered by the state of Florida.
