General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.
Ecological Restoration Notes: It can be used as one of many understory herbs in pine rocklands.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts.
Description: A creeping or short climbing vine with small leaves.
Dimensions: N/A; a vine with stems to 3 feet or more in length.
Growth Rate: Moderate to fast.
Range:
Monroe County Keys and Miami-Dade County; Bahamas. In the Monroe County Keys, disjunct from Miami-Dade County to the pine rocklands of Big Pine Key. In Miami-Dade County, native to the Miami Rock Ridge south of the Miami River.
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: Pine rocklands.
Soils: Moist, well-drained 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: Low; salt wind may burn the leaves.
Drought Tolerance: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: White.
Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy.
Flowering Season: Spring-fall.
Fruit: Slender pod with wind dispersed seeds.
Wildlife and Ecology: Possible larval host plant for soldier (Danaus eresimus) butterflies.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed or cuttings.
Comments: The sap is white. It is listed as threatened by the state of Florida.
