Frogfruit

Description

Botanical Name:    Phyla nodiflora

Common Name:    Turkey Tangle Fogfruit, Frogfruit, Fog Fruit

Description:    Cool little perennial groundcover native to Florida with a funky little name. Low growing at 3-8″ tall x 2-4′ wide, with its tiny flowers blooming May through November. The flowers are white petals with yellow dots and purple/red centers. I love this groundcover. Great alternative to grass in your sun, part sun, or part shade areas. Moderate deer resistance. Fast growing. Drought tolerant, but can also handle occasional flooding. Tolerates light foot traffic. Can be mowed. Frogfruit makes a great groundcover as it can form dense mats. It also works well in a hanging basket and in containers. Is in the verbena family. This is considered an evergreen perennial, meaning during normal winters in our area the leaves will stay green. In colder winters, it will go dormant, then green up again in the spring. Frogfruit is a high wildlife value, attractive, and low maintenance native groundcover that you need in your garden!

It’s a good nectar source for bees, hummingbirds, and small butterflies such as hairstreaks. Is the larval host for the White peacock (Anartia jatrophae), Phaon crescent (Phyciodes phaon), and Common buckeye (Junonia coenia) butterflies. It occurs naturally in hammocks, beaches, lawns, and along roadsides.

Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water. Moderate tolerance to salty wind but not direct salt spray.

This plant in 1-gallon containers is 1 – 3 inches tall x  3 – 10 inches long.

Plant Lore:  In the Middle Ages, farmers knew that after they hayed their meadows, low-growing plants would pop up. Because meadows often have fog on them in the mornings, these low-growing plants were collectively known as “fog fruit.” Jump forward hundreds of years later until fog fruit is now called Frogfruit simply because someone along the way misunderstood the pronunciation.

Florida Hardiness Zones 8 – 10