This is a rare South Florida native that has entered the nursery trade. A major concern is hybridization with Lantana strigocamara, a multicolored invasive exotic. Due to the potential hybridization, it is best to acquire L. depress var. depressa only, and it is best to acquire it from a native plant nursery, not a big box store. Small, low-growing border plant, specimen plant in a flower garden. Fairly slow growing. Flowers range from bright yellow to white with a yellow center -- never becoming multicolored with age.

Further north, this can be a moderately large tree. Not typically grown but worth retaining if present as an understory tree.

Groundcover or border plant in shady areas.

Sawgrass is a sedge, not a grass. It was this plant that Marjory Stoneman Douglas referred to in her seminal work: "The Everglades: River of Grass." A second species (C. mariscoides) occurs in a limited area in north Florida.  Its uses and culture are similar. Typically used in wetland restoration. Also useful for planting in brackish settings where an emergent aquatic is desired. Spreads rapidly to cover large areas.

Makes a good specimen tree or a cluster of in wet areas along margins of lakes and ponds. This tree is columnar in form and can make a formal-looking plant near an entryway.

This is Florida's only native annual sunflower.  The Bradford County location is near both a major road and a railroad and may be a waif. Moist wildflower garden.

Often in water. Use in water gardens or along the shallow edges of ponds.

In natural settings, benefits from fire. Bog gardens.

Specimen tree in wet settings. This is a good plant to grow in floodplains.

This subspecies has a broad distribution that extends west into Texas and north into northern New England.  It is found broadly but sporatically in Florida.  Our map shows where herbarium specimens have been submitted, but it should be appropriate to plant this plant almost anywhere in the northern 2/3 of the state.   To avoid inbreeding, do not plant this subspecies in a common garden with either the east- or west-coast dune sunflower. Beach-front gardens.  Wildflower gardens. Groundcover.

Don't confuse this native with its invasive relatives: taro (Colocasia esculenta) and malanga (Xanthosoma sagittifolium), which have been widely planted as crops and/or ornamentals in Florida. Use in a water garden.