PlantFiles: Porterweed
Stachytarpheta jamaicensis

I would like to reiterate what htop said. The only native porterweed is Stachytarpheta jamaicensis, which has blue to purple flowers. There is NO pink or red flowered variety of this native. The species with pink ro read flowers is the exotic Stachytarpheta mutabilis, which is native to South America and NOT Florida!

I have been very please with this plant and it is thriving without any fussing over it. It is a great native plant for any Floridian garden. Thank you for tolerating my above ranting.

I have not grown this plant. Porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis) can be found growing as a native plant in Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and as a naturalized (intorduced) plant in Hawaii. Having had great difficulty identifying a porterweed because some photos on the internet have been misidentified as well as the descriptions of some types of porterweed can be incorrect, I am adding a portion of an article entitled "Plant Profile: The So-Called Porterweeds". This information is written by Roger Hammer appeared on the Florida Native Plant Society webpage (Copyright 2003-2007 --- Revised July 14, 2006) - Reprinted from The Tillandsia (Miami-Dade Chapter), Jul.-Aug. 1994.

"Plants offered in many Florida nurseries and garden shops are either mislabeled or sold under names with no botanical standing. This adds to the taxonomic confusion surrounding the genus. There is but a single species native, or presumably native, to Florida, and that is Jamaica porterweed, Stachytarpheta jamaicensis, sometimes referred to as "blue porterweed." This is a sub shrub growing to a typical height of only one or two feet with a sprawling or decumbent habit. It often forms a dense mound of stems in cultivation. Leaves are dull, light green or gray-green, although some plants may be entirely blushed with purple. The leaf margins are coarsely serrate and the teeth are generally forward-pointing (towards the leaf tip). The leaves are usually glabrous (smooth) above, but may also be pilose (slightly hairy) on the lower surface, and there are no prominent raised areas between the leaf veins. One to several small, blue flowers are borne on green, quill-like spikes. With each passing day, flowers appear slowly up the stem, but each flower lasts only a single day.

Jamaica porterweed is generally considered to be a Florida native, although some botanists believe that this species arrived in Florida along with early Bahamian settlers who brought seeds of medicinal plants with them. This is a species of roadsides and other disturbed sites, seldom being found in undisturbed native plant communities.

All other species of the genus found in Florida are clearly exotic. The most prominent species that is fast becoming established as an escaped exotic in southern and central Florida is Stachytarpheta urticifolia (or S. urticaefoli). This a four- to six-foot woody shrub with violet to purple flowers that, like the flowers of S. jamaicensis, only last a single day. A flowering specimen is quite attractive and is an excellent butterfly attractor. There is a highly-prized white-flowered form (forma albiflora) cultivated on Guadaloupe and Martinique in the Lesser Antilles. Leaves are dark green, somewhat glossy, with acute, marginal teeth that are more numerous and outward-pointing with S. jamaicensis. When comparing these two species, look closely at the leaves and growth habit. The leaves of S. urticifolia have distinct raised areas between the leaf veins, giving the leaf a quilted (bullate) appearance. Growth habits are entirely different; S. jamaicensis is always low and sprawling, while S. urticifolia forms an upright woody shrub with a distinct trunk. S. urticifolia is native to tropical Asia."

It is truly a beautiful plant. I've had wonderful success propagating from cuttings.

I love this plant! I have several and have grown several more from seedlings. I live in Brandon Fl. Does anyone know where I can find this in colors other than the purple that I have?

This is my new "favorite" plant. I have it planted in a deep foundation bed. It is backed by loripetalum and mixed with pink pentas and it makes a loverly bed. It has bloomed for months with no problems.

Great plant to have in your butterfly garden. The red variety will attract the most butterflies and moths. I have seen skippers, viceroys, Monarchs, Queens and many others attracted to the red porterweed while passing by other known butterfly flowers..

Porterweed grows just like a weed but it a wild flower in Florida. I have 28 plants in a bed which is ten feet in diameter. This mass looks powerful and I have many wild visitors. The Gulf Fertlllary and Long Tailed Skipper are constantly supping nectar. Also bees and flies. I cut this to the ground in January each year for energy and new growth.

If you are interested in a larger version of this plant, check out Stachytarpheta frantzii. It has purple flowers, is very drought resistant and is also attractive to butterflies and bees.

It grows as a weed too here in India mostly on roadsides and also in the western ghats. It can reseed itself. It is a very pretty blue, but not striking due to its smallness.

The Porter Weed is pretty much a "weed" here in Florida, but it is sold in nurseries as an ornamental shrub for butterfly gardens. It has small, deep blue flowers that attract bumblebees and butterflies. (There is a pink variety too.) They are grown in parks and naturalized areas, and for the homeowner's garden they do well as back-of-the-border shrubs. They self seed at will. I'll find little seedlings growing 100 - 200 feet away from the parent plant. These seedlings can be dug up and planted elsewhere.

The difference between Stachytarpheta cayenensis and S. jamaicensis are size and the shape of the leaves.

S. jamaicensis: Floral bracts ovate-lanceolate, scariously margined mostly above the middle; leaf teeth obtuse.

S. urticifolia: Floral bracts lanceolate-subulate, scariously margined below the middle; leaf teeth acute.

Also, the flowers of S. jamaicensis seem to be of a more violet color rather than blue.

Both are very desirable in a butterfly garden. This variety will thrive in more shade than the S. jamaicensis variety.

When the flowers fall from the plant to the soil, there is a good probability that other plants will grow. When the plant is about an inch tall or more, you can carefully dig up the plant with its entire root structure and can transplant it. Have even tranplanted a plant over two feet tall. It died, but upon leaving it and continually watering it daily over a period of two months it has now resumed producing leaves and flowers.

A Florida native, Porterweed is a low, sprawling shrub with a subtle beauty. It's a fairly long-lived, semi-woody perennial that should live at least four years. It reseeds after it becomes established, but is not a pest. Flowers open in the morning, and close in the late afternoon. They bloom year round. Porterweed grows to be 3-4' and flowers are purple, salmon –pink or red. A must for your butterfly garden as this plant is usually alive with bees and all types of butterflies.