General Landscape Uses: Accent groundcover. Wildflower and rock gardens.

Description: Small shrub or woody groundcover with attractive yellow flowers.

Dimensions: About 2-4 feet in height. Spreading and becoming much broader than tall.

Growth Rate: Fast.

Range: Monroe County Keys and Miami-Dade County; Bahamas and Cuba. Very rare or absent in the upper Monroe County Keys. In Miami-Dade County, native to the Miami Rock Ridge from Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park northeast perhaps as far north as the Miami River.

Habitats: Pine rocklands and rockland hammock edges.

Soils: Moist, well-drained limestone soils, with or without humusy top layer.

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: Moderate to high; plants growing in extremely dry soils may die during extended periods of drought.

Light Requirements: Full sun to light shade.

Flower Color: Yellow.

Flower Characteristics: Showy, about 3/4″ wide.

Flowering Season: All year.

Fruit: Brown pod (legume).

Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host plant for cloudless sulphur (Phoebis sennae), sleepy orange (Eurema nicippe) and the introduced orange-barred sulphur (Phoebis philea) butterflies. A gland at the base of the leaves attracts ants that attack the butterfly caterpillars. Attracts pollinators.

Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed.

References: Hammer 2004

Comments: It is listed as threatened by the state of Florida. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation’s Flower Friday page.