Xyris elliottii
Xyris elliottii
Found in margins of drawdown zones of clay-based Carolina bays, limesinks and flatwoods swales, wet savannas. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Florida edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 47%
- Soil moisture
- Moist to wet
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 65 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
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.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Florida. Shared habitat, not food. 90 animals.
- LimpkinAramus guarauna
- Loggerhead ShrikeLanius ludovicianus
- Magnificent FrigatebirdFregata magnificens
- Mississippi KiteIctinia mississippiensis
- Mourning DoveZenaida macroura
- Northern BobwhiteColinus virginianus
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- Northern FlickerColaptes auratus
- Northern MockingbirdMimus polyglottos
- Northern ShovelerAnas clypeata
- Northern WaterthrushSeiurus noveboracensis
- Orchard OrioleIcterus spurius
- OspreyPandion haliaetus
- Painted BuntingPasserina ciris
- Pileated WoodpeckerDryocopus pileatus
- Purple FinchCarpodacus purpureus
- Purple GallinulePorphyrio martinica
- Red-bellied WoodpeckerMelanerpes carolinus
- Red-cockaded WoodpeckerPicoides borealis
- Red-headed WoodpeckerMelanerpes erythrocephalus
- Red-shouldered HawkButeo lineatus
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
- Ruby-crowned KingletRegulus calendula
Who uses this plant?
2CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Xyris
- Megisto cymelaLittle Wood Satyr
- Coleophora xyridella
13BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Xyris
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
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Xyris
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
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
- XYRIDACEAE
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Florida rank | S5 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G4 |
| 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
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition
- 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

























