Carolina Bristle-mallow

Modiola caroliniana

Found in lawns, roadsides, disturbed areas, pondshores, edges of brackish marshes; probably adventive in our area from an original native range in South America. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

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Not native

Not native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 47%

Light: Partial shade, Full sun
Soil moisture: Dry to moist

Modiola caroliniana — bloom photograph — Forest & Kim Starr · CC BY 3.0 · Original photograph

At a glance

Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom

Bloom: recorded only in the FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team) phone app (app page).

Height, spread, life cycle and 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 15 Virginia counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement.

Brackish marsh at a woodland edge. Shown: Fort Fisher, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Fort Fisher brackish marsh and woodland edge, ncwetlands.org, undated. CC0 1.0. Source record.

Habitats

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground; depression ponds and limesinks; salt and brackish marshes.

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

1CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA

Genus host records with ranges including VA · Modiola

Burnsius communisCommon Checkered-Skipper

Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)

—BeesSoutheastern regional records

—Specialist beesPollen specialists

—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family: Malvaceae

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Growing sources and scope

Light · “Partial shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Soil · “Dry; Moist (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia

Also known as

Bristly Mallow; Carolina Bristle mallow

Conservation status

Virginia rank	SNA
Global rank	G5
VA status	Not verified
Federal status	Not verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

Native alternatives

Find natives for your garden