Phyla Species, Frog Fruit, Sawtooth Fogfruit, Turkey Tangle

Host plant for White Peacock, Phaon Crescent (as previously noted), & also Common Buckeye. I grow it as a host plant around my mailbox- s...Read Moreeparated from garden bed by a sidewalk & also in pots.

In my yard, does invade the stuff that passes for "grass" in FL as well as garden beds. Will shrivel if I forget to water it in a hot dry spell JAX, FL but bounces right back w/watering.

This was planted around May, in full sun, in soil a little heavy in clay. It received daily watering for about 6-8 weeks, and most began...Read More spreading vigorously.

After about summer solstice, water was limited to 2 times per week. The spreading slowed a lot, and the dense green middle turned grey on most plants.

I placed my frog fruit in a frog-shaped planter (part sun/part shade) and it did quite well with daily watering; however, I don't quite u...Read Morenderstand where this plant gets its name as I shared its product with my frogs and they all killed over dead....just kiddding.

This is a very charming plant and the variety of butterflies that appeared to visit it were amazing. I am smack in the center of the usa...Read More, near Kansas City, Mo. We have three wet areas, almost bogs, in the wetland flood plain area of the creek that runs through our parks. This year, disgusted with the standing stagnant water I decided to try and plant the spots with "rain garden" shrubs. Actually the only plants I introduced were native Button bush shrub seedlings and in one wet area--transplanted horsetail rushes from another area in the park. The area is often flooded with flash flood waters 1-7' deep. Mid summer I noticed Moneywort - Lysimachia nummularia had appeared, washed in on it's own. This was quickly joined by a dainty ground cover of 10-12" grass that appeared to be--and was in fact-Scirpus cernuus / Fiber-optic grass/Salt Marsh Bullrush which I had seen in garden centers and knew to be Non native. In fact it is a tropical zone plant. This was followed by a strange plant that had me totally stumped. It was also small and dainty and had an unusual flower. I suspected that it was possibly a garden pond escapee like the fiber optic grass because I had never seen anything like it. The Missouri Conservation department finally gave me the name "frog fruit" as a possibility. Searching this online tonight quickly nailed this charming mystery plant because of the flower. Online photos also solved the butterfly mystery. An assortment were visiting this wet area all summer and many were ones I had never seen before. I now recognized several of the butterflies shown on frog fruit. Several places mentioned their attraction as both a nectar and larval food source. One source said, "This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds" Possibly they meant hummingbirds because we also had an unusual number of them around these rain gardens. They seemed torn between the shaded native Jewel weed along the woodland edge and the sunny patch of rain garden. I hope this combination that Mother Nature delivered to us reappears again next summer. The largest area had only Buttonbush, moneywort, fiber optic rush and frog fruit. Because of the plant heights this seemed a perfect combination. This was full sun from 10am-5pm but never dried up all summer. The water averaged 1/2" to 2" deep. From this combination we had something blooming, even though they were all tiny, all summer. Is this global warming? So far I have seen nothing harmful or invasive with these odd little plants since they are filling a seemingly empty niche and grow well with other small plants.