Small to medium tree often with somewhat scruffy form. Retain in a natural setting if present.

Moist wildflower garden.

Blooms all year. Recruits readily in the garden from seed. Primarily recommended for natural landscapes and habitat restorations. Also butterfly gardens.

Wildflower garden, meadow.

This is listed as an ENDANGERED by the State of Florida An excellent accent shrub or small tree with open, spreading crown. Attractive fine textured, thin leaves and long, hanging spikes of flowers. Dioecious with male and female flowers on separate plants.

Specimen tree. Red to yellow in the fall.

Multistemmed shrub that can form small thickets. Plant as a screen, hedge, or background plant.

Retain if present. Can be used as part of a screen in a dry site setting.

Requires a reliable cold period to persist. In most of Florida it can be treated as an annual in gardens. Listed as Endangered by the State of Florida.  While this is a common garden plant in the north, its range barely reaches Florida, and it is rare and exists only in a highly specific habitate in the wild. Works well in almost any garden with mixed wildflower species. North of Florida, this species is sometimes planted as single-species mass plantings.

Highly tolerant of fire once established. Shade tree. Woodland tree.

Bahama ladder brake hybridizes with the non-native and invasive China brake (P. vittata) forming Delchamps' ladder brake (P. x delchampsii). Bahama ladder break is threatened with extinction due to this hybridization. Because of this, we do not recommend planting Bahama ladder break -- if we plant it and there is any China brake around, we exacerbate the problem. When you find this plant in nature, please enjoy it there. Listed as threatened by the state of Florida. Grows in clumps. Unusual in that it thrives in high light, but needs moist soil.

Background shrub.

Wild cotton is a rare plant; it needs protection against missuses and protection against removal from natural populations. Use as a short-lived "shrub". Dies back with freezing but will re-sprout from the roots. Use as a specimen plant.

Both the common and scientific genus names refer to the lizard-like shape of the drooping flower head. This is a wetland plant. It can form dense patches making good groundcover in wet areas.