General Landscape Uses: Accent or specimen shrub along the coast. Also buffer plantings.

Description: Medium to large shrub with an irregular rounded crown. Trunks short, bearing several arching stems. Bark yellowish-brown, roughend by lenticels. Leaves glossy dark green, shiny above, slighly hairy when young then becoming glabrous.

Dimensions: Typically 8-10 feet in height. About as broad as tall.

Growth Rate: Moderate.

Range: Monroe County Keys north to Brevard and Levy counties.

Habitats: Edges of coastal forests and thickets.

Soils: Moist, well-drained sandy or limestone soils, with humusy top layer; rarely on peat on tree islands in the southern Everglades.

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

Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.

Salt Wind Tolerance: High; can tolerate moderate amounts of salt wind without significant injury.

Drought Tolerance: High; does not require any supplemental water once established.

Light Requirements: Full sun.

Flower Color: Yellow.

Flower Characteristics: Showy, in long, racemose, terminal spikes.

Flowering Season: All year.

Fruit: Yellowish-brown beaded pods (legumes), 2-6″ long.

Wildlife and Ecology: Provides food and shelter for wildlife. Nectar plant for hummingbirds and butterflies. The flowers also attract warblers and bees.

Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed. Care must now be taken to avoid pollination by S. tomentosa var. occidentalis (see below).

References: Hammer 2004, Nelson 2003

Comments: The very hairy, commonly sold necklacepod is S. tomentosa var. occidentalis from Texas. The seeds are toxic if eaten. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation’s Flower Friday page.