Narrow Plumegrass
Saccharum baldwinii
Found in marshes, clay-based Carolina bays, depression ponds, ditches. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- Up to about 6 feet
- Light
- Partial shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Moist to wet
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At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- July to November
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 35 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Depression ponds and limesinks
Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
36CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Saccharum
- Acrolophus heppneriHeppner's Grass-Tubeworm
- Agrotis ipsilonIpsilon Dart, Black Cutworm, Greasy Cutworm
- Agrotis malefidaRascal Dart, Pale-Sided Cut-Worm, Shagreened Cut-Worm
- Amblyscirtes vialisCommon Roadside-Skipper, Black Little Skipper
- Anatrytone loganDelaware Skipper, Logan Skipper, Black-Vein Skipper
- Atrytone byssusByssus Skipper, Golden Skipper
- Calpodes ethliusBrazilian Skipper, Canna Skipper, Canna Leafroller
- Cymaenes tripunctusThree-Spotted Skipper
- Diatraea crambidoidesSouthern Cornstalk Borer
- Elaphria agrotinaBicolored Midget
Show all 36
- Elaphria chalcedoniaChalcedony Midget
- Elaphria festivoidesSouthern Festive Midget
- Elaphria nucicoloraSugarcane Midget, Sugarcane Moth
- Elasmopalpus lignosellaLesser Cornstalk Borer
- Feltia repletaReplete Dart
- Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
- Herpetogramma bipunctalisSouthern Beet Webworm, Two-Spotted Herpetogramma
- Hylephila phyleusFiery Skipper
- Lerema acciusClouded Skipper, Corn Leaf tier
- Lerodea eufalaEufala Skipper, Gray Skipper, Rice Leafroller
- Leucania humidicolaSugarcane Budworm Moth
- Leucania subpunctataWhite-Dotted Wainscot, Forage Armyworm
- Meropleon cosmionComely Brocade
- Mocis disseveransYellow Mocis
- Mocis latipesSmall Mocis, Striped Grass Looper
- Mythimna unipunctaArmyworm Moth, White Speck
- Nomophila nearcticaLucerne Moth, American Celery Webworm
- Panoquina ocolaOcola Skipper, Long-Winged Skiiper
- Panoquina panoquinoidesObscure Skipper, Beach Skipper
- Polites baracoaBaracoa Skipper, Little Tawny Edge Skipper
- Polites othoSouthern Broken-Dash, Broken-Dash Skipper
- Spodoptera albulaWhite-Spotted Armyworm, Gray-Streaked Armyworm
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Vernia vernaLittle Glassywing
- Chilo erianthalis
- Leucania latiuscula
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Poaceae
- Flower color
- Green, purple or brown
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “July to November” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Green, purple or brown” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Height · “Up to about 6 feet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Partial shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Soil · “Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Narrow Plume Grass; Saccharum baldwinii
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| FL 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
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- 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

