Wavyleaf Noseburn
Tragia urens
Found in longleaf pine sandhills, sandy woodlands, pine rocklands, other dry woodlands. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- Up to about 1.5 feet
- Light
- Partial shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to somewhat dry
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- May to October
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 31 Alabama counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Dry, deep-sand ridges with longleaf pine and turkey oak, kept open by fire.
Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.
Who uses this plant?
0CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL
0BeesSoutheastern regional records
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
2BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Tragia
- Columbina passerinaCommon Ground Dove
- Zenaida macrouraMourning Dove
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Euphorbiaceae
- Flower color
- Yellow, green, orange or red
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to October” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow, green, orange or red” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Height · “Up to about 1.5 feet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Partial shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Occasionally dry; Very dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| AL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Alabama Plant Atlas
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: South Central (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Florida (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications