Silky Sesban
Sesbania sericea
Found in wet, disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
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At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 5 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
21CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Sesbania
- Anavitrinella pampinariaCommon Gray, Cranberry Spanworm
- Anticarsia gemmatalisVelvetbean Caterpillar Moth
- Colias eurythemeOrange Sulphur, Alfalfa Butterfly
- Elasmopalpus lignosellaLesser Cornstalk Borer
- Gesta baptisiaeWild Indigo Duskywing, Baptisia Duskywing
- Gesta zaruccoZarucco Duskywing
- Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
- Hemiargus ceraunusCeraunus Blue, Antillean Blue
- Iridopsis defectariaBrown-Shaded Gray, Willow Looper
- Iridopsis humariaSmall Purplish Gray
Show all 21
- Leptotes cassiusCassius Blue, Tropical Striped Blue
- Platynota flavedanaBlack-Shaded Platynota
- Platynota rostranaOmnivorous Platynota
- Psamatodes abydataDot-Lined Angle
- Selenisa sueroidesTailpipes, Pale-Edged Selenisa Moth
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
- Urbanus proteusLong-Tailed Skipper, Bean Leaf Roller
- Dichomeris acuminatus
- Ephyrodes cacata
- Glympis concors
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
4BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Sesbania
- Colinus virginianusNorthern Bobwhite
- Francolinus francolinusBlack Francolin
- Zenaida asiaticaWhite-winged 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
Plant details
- Family
- Fabaceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- FloraQuest: Florida (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