Natives For Your Neighborhood
Conservation of rare plants, animals, and ecosystems

General Landscape Uses: Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations.

Description: Twining, low climbing vine.

Dimensions: N/A; a vine with stems to 8 feet or more in length.

Growth Rate: Moderate.

Range: Monroe and Miami-Dade counties north along the west coast to Manatee County; West Indies, Central America and South America.

 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: Hammocks and thickets, mostly along the coasts.

Soils: Moist, well-drained limestone or calcareous sandy soils, with humusy top layer.

Nutritional Requirements: Moderate; can grow in nutrient poor soils, but needs some organic content to thrive.

Salt Water Tolerance: Moderate; tolerates brackish water or occasional inundation by salt water.

Salt Wind Tolerance: Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.

Drought Tolerance: Moderate; generally requires moist soils, but tolerant of short periods of drought once established.

Light Requirements: Light shade to full sun.

Flower Color: Bright pink with thin white lines fading to bluish-pink.

Flower Characteristics: Semi-showy.

Flowering Season: All year.

Fruit: Small brown pod (legume).

Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host plant for cassius blue (Leptotes cassius), long-tailed skipper (Urbanus proteus), zestos skipper (Epargyreus zestos) and zarucco duskywing (Erynnis zarucco) butterflies. Nectar plant for hammock skipper (Polygonus leo) and other butterflies.

Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed.

References: Hammer 2004