Scaevola sericea

Non-Native to Florida

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Half-flower is occasionally found growing in coastal strands in the central and southern peninsula of Florida (Wunderlin, 2003). It is native to the Indian and Pacific Ocean region but escaped from cultivation. Scaevola sericea blooms year round.

Appearance: Large, bushy shrub to 5 m (16 ft) tall, often forming dense hemispherical mounds.

Leaves: Simple, closely alternate, crowded at stem tips; blades thick, shiny green, wider near tips, to 21 cm
(8.3 in) long; glabrous to hairy on both sides, margins revolute, light green becoming yellow with age; leaf axils with tufts of pale hairs.

Flowers: White to pale lilac, several in short clusters at leaf axils; 5 petals, partially fused, split to base on upper side so that petal lobes spread fanlike into a lower lip.

Fruit: A fleshy, sub-spherical drupe, green then white, 8–12 mm (0.3–0.5 in) long, with sepal lobes persistent at tip.

Ecological threat: Appears to be supplanting native coastal vegetation and has begun to displace rare native beach plants, such as the inkberry and the Florida endangered sea lavender. FLEPPC Category I

Distribution: C, SW, SE

Text from Invasive and Non-Native Plants You Should Know, Recognition Cards, by A. Richard and V. Ramey, 2007. UF/IFAS Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, Publ. No. SP 431.

Download the Recognition Card (PDF 510 KB).

 

View more information and pictures about half-flower, as contained in the Langeland/Burks book, Identification & Biology of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas.

View the UF/IFAS Assessment, which lists plants according to their invasive status in Florida.