Sea Oats
Uniola paniculata
Found in Coastal dunes and beaches. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 100%
- Height
- 4–6 feet
- Spread
- 1–2 feet
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Dry to somewhat dry
Space about 1.5 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 44 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- Early summer
- Fruiting season
- Summer to fall
Not yet recorded · Leaves
Recorded in 29 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Florida. Shared habitat, not food. 177 animals.
- KilldeerCharadrius vociferus
- Laughing GullLeucophaeus atricilla
- Least TernSternula antillarum
- Little GullHydrocoloeus minutus
- Marbled GodwitLimosa fedoa
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
- Ring-billed GullLarus delawarensis
- Royal TernThalasseus maximus
- Short-eared OwlAsio flammeus
- Spotted SandpiperActitis macularius
- Tricolored HeronEgretta tricolor
- WilletTringa semipalmata
- Wilson's PloverCharadrius wilsonia
- Bonaparte's GullChroicocephalus philadelphia
- Eurasian Collared-doveStreptopelia decaocto
- Greater YellowlegsTringa melanoleuca
- Northern MockingbirdMimus polyglottos
- Painted BuntingPasserina ciris
- Piping PloverCharadrius melodus
- Red KnotCalidris canutus
- Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensis
- Yellow-crowned Night-heronNyctanassa violacea
- American White PelicanPelecanus erythrorhynchos
- Chipping SparrowSpizella passerina
Who uses this plant?
1CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Uniola
- Amblyscirtes hegonPepper and Salt Skipper
0BeesSoutheastern regional records
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimNo records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Poaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 7a–11b
- Soil pH
- Acidic to alkaline
- Flower color
- White
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth habit
- Spreads by rhizomes
- Foliage color
- Green
- Fruit begins
- Summer
- Fruit ends
- Fall
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “Early summer” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Flower color · “White” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Foliage color · “Green” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit begins · “Summer” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Fruit ends · “Fall” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth habit · “Spreads by rhizomes” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Growth rate · “Slow” · USDA PLANTS · Nationwide species characteristics; local growing conditions may vary
- Hardiness · “Zones 7a–11b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “4–6 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; USDA PLANTS differs)
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Occasionally dry; Very dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Acidic to alkaline” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “1–2 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| Florida rank | S5 |
|---|---|
| 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.
Growing cautions
- Spreads by rhizomes. USDA PLANTS lists its growth form as rhizomatous. USDA PLANTS
For planning only; these do not change the score or Fit.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- 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