General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also moist to wet wildflower gardens.
Availability:
Grown by one or two native plant nurseries in South Florida.
Description: Medium herbaceous grass with wiry stems.
Dimensions: About 1-2 feet in height; 3 feet in flower. Spreading from underground stems (rhizomes) and forming large patches.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Monroe County Keys north to Palm Beach, Hendry and Charlotte counties; Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. In the Monroe County Keys, disjunct from Miami-Dade County south to the pine rocklands of 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 poorly drained sandy or 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: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.
Light Requirements: Full sun.
Flower Color: Green.
Flower Characteristics: Inconspicuous.
Flowering Season: Summer-fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous caryopsis.
Wildlife and Ecology: Provides food for birds.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed and division.
References: Miami-Dade County Landscape Manual
(2005).
