Matted Sandmat
Euphorbia serpens
Found in dry sandy hammocks, disturbed uplands. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- 1–2 inches
- Spread
- 2–18 inches
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Dry to average
Space about 1 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 100 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual
Not yet recorded · Leaves · Bloom
Bloom: recorded only in the FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team) phone app (app page).
Leaves: no source found yet.
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 9 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Dense, evergreen groves of live oak, magnolia and other hardwoods in the southern Coastal Plain, from dry oak domes to wet hydric hammocks and south Florida's tropical hammocks; salt-shaped maritime hammocks are maritime forests.
Who uses this plant?
16CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Euphorbia
- Automeris ioIo Moth
- Episimus argutanaSumac Leaftier
- Erinnyis alopeAlope Sphinx
- Erinnyis obscuraObscure Sphinx
- Eudryas unioPearly Wood-Nymph
- Eutrapela clematariaCurved-Tooth Geometer, Purplish Brown Looper
- Hypercompe scriboniaGiant Leopard Moth, Great Leopard Moth
- Lobocleta plemyrariaStraight-Lined Wave
- Melanochroia chephiseWhite-Tipped Black Moth, Snowbush Spanworm
- Pygarctia abdominalisYellow-Edged Pygarctia
Show all 16
- Pygarctia spragueiSprague's Pygarctia Moth
- Sparganothis sulfureanaSparganothis Fruitworm Moth, Sulfur Leafroller, False Yellow-Head
- Episimus guiana
- Episimus nesoites
- Ethelgoda texanana
- Ophisma tropicalis
13BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Euphorbia
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
14BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Euphorbia
- Anthus rubescensAmerican Pipit
- Anthus spragueiiSprague's Pipit
- Calcarius pictusSmith's Longspur
- Callipepla gambeliiGambel's Quail
- Cardinalis cardinalisNorthern Cardinal
- Columbina passerinaCommon Ground Dove
- Corvus brachyrhynchosAmerican Crow
- Cyrtonyx montezumaeMontezuma Quail
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
- Pooecetes gramineusVesper Sparrow
Show all 14
- Spizella breweriBrewer's Sparrow
- Spizella pusillaField Sparrow
- Tympanuchus pallidicinctusLesser Prairie-Chicken
- 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
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–11a
- Soil pH
- Acidic to alkaline
- Flower color
- Green or white
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Flower color · “Green or white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Hardiness · “Zones 5a–11a” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “1–2 inches” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Annual” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Occasionally dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Acidic to alkaline” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “2–18 inches” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Chamaesyce serpens; Roundleaf Sandmat
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| 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
- 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

