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Floristic Inventory of the Florida Keys Database Online

Echites umbellatus Jacq.
Devil’s-potato, Rubbervine

Echites umbellatus
Copyright by: George D. Gann
in habitat, Everglades National Park, 2012

Family: Apocynaceae

Group: Dicot

Substrate: Terrestrial

Habit: Vine

Perennation: Perennial

Native Range: Peninsular Florida, the West Indies, southern Mexico and northern Central America.

IRC SOUTH FLORIDA Status: Secure

Map of select IRC data for peninsular Florida

SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence: Present

SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status: Native

SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status: Cultivated

Comments: Visit our Natives For Your Neighborhood website for more information and images. See a 2018 post on the Treasure Coast Natives blog on Devil’s-Potato and Its Mimectic Moths.

Synonyms: E. echites.

FLORIDA KEYS Occurrence: Present

FLORIDA KEYS Native Status: Native

IRC FLORIDA KEYS Status: Rare

Map of select IRC data for the Florida Keys

Florida Keys History and Distribution: First collected between 1838 and 1853 by John Loomis Blodgett on the island of Key West.  Reported in 1913 by John Kunkel Small for pinelands in the upper Keys and lower Keys.  We consider this native and extant from the upper Keys to the lower Keys, where it grows in both hammocks and pinelands.

Other data on Echites umbellatus available from :

Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants

Echites umbellatus has been reported from the following 14 conservation areas in the FLORIDA KEYS :
Occurrence Native Status
Biscayne National Park, Florida Keys Section Present Native
Blue Heron Hammock, Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area Present Native
Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge Present Native
Curry Hammock State Park Present Native
Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammocks Botanical State Park Present Native
Dove Creek Hammocks, Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area Present Native
Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge Present Native
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Present Native
Little Torch Hammocks, Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area Present Native
National Key Deer Refuge Present Native
Ramrod Hammocks, Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area Present Native
Snake Creek Hammocks, Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area Present Native
Sugarloaf Hammocks, Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area Present Native
Wahoo Hammocks, Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area Present Native




Echites umbellatus has been reported for the following 3 habitats in THE FLORIDA KEYS :
Disturbed Upland
Pine Rockland
Rockland Hammock


All Images:

Echites umbellatus
Copyright by: George D. Gann
in habitat, Everglades National Park, 2012
Echites umbellatus
Copyright by: George D. Gann
Echites umbellatus
Copyright by: George D. Gann
in habitat, Everglades National Park, 2012
Echites umbellatus
Copyright by: Roger L. Hammer
Echites umbellatus
Copyright by: Shirley Denton
Echites umbellatus
Copyright by: Shirley Denton