General Landscape Uses:
Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also saline butterfly gardens along the coast.
Availability:
Grown by enthusiasts and occasionally by native plant nurseries.
Description: Small creeping herb.
Dimensions: About 6-12 inches or sometimes more in height. Spreading and forming large mats.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Coastal regions of the New World, Europe and northern Africa.
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: Brackish coastal areas.
Soils: Wet, ocassionally inundated brackish or saline soils.
Nutritional Requirements: Moderate; can grow in nutrient poor soils, but needs some organic content to thrive.
Salt Water Tolerance: High; tolerates flooding by salt water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.
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: All year; peak summer-fall.
Fruit: Inconspicuous utricle.
Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host plant for eastern pygmy-blue (Brephidium isophthalma) butterflies.
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed and division.
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.
