Family: Fabaceae
Group: Dicot
Substrate:
Terrestrial
Habit:
Vine
Perennation:
Perennial
Native Range: South Florida, the West Indies (Cuba, Bahamas) and southern Mexico.
NatureServe Global Status:
Rare
State of Florida Status:
Endangered
Florida Natural Areas Inventory State Status:
Critically Imperiled
IRC SOUTH FLORIDA Status:
Imperiled
Map of select IRC data for peninsular Florida
SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence:
Present
SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status:
Native
South Florida History and Distribution: Ranked as critically imperiled in Rare Plants of South Florida (
Gann et al. 2002; pp 508-510) based on three occurrences in six protected areas (Biscayne National Park; Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammocks Botanical State Park, and John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park; Key Largo Ansama Parcel, Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area and Dove Creek Hammocks, Florida Keys Wildlife and Environmental Area). Since 2002 this species has been discovered in several other protected areas, including in Big Cypress National Preserve. It was reranked as imperiled in 2024.
SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status:
Not Cultivated
Comments: An observation in Big Cypress National Park, Collier County, needs to be vouchered.
Synonyms:
Dolicholus swartzii.
FLORIDA KEYS Occurrence:
Present
FLORIDA KEYS Native Status:
Native
IRC FLORIDA KEYS Status:
Critically Imperiled
Map of select IRC data for the Florida Keys
Florida Keys History and Distribution: First collected on the island of Key West by either John Loomis Blodgett between 1838 and 1853 or by Ferdinand Rugel in 1846. Reported in
1913 by John Kunkel Small for hammocks from the upper Keys to the lower Keys. We consider this native and extant in the upper Keys and possibly extirpated in the lower Keys. For more information on R. swartzii in South Florida, see IRC's
species account.
