Hammock Snakeroot

Each year, when hammock snakeroot (Ageratina jucunda) is in flower, folks ask me to identify this winter-flowering perennial sprawling shrub.  A member of the Asteraceae (aster or daisy) family, this plant flowers profusely in the late fall and early winter.

Its pale lavender flowers are attractive not only to people.  Butterflies and bees flock to this plant as a wonderful winter nectar source.  Our Florida state butterfly, the zebra longwing, as well as southern white, giant swallowtail, and monarch butterflies, have been seen nectaring on it at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA), where a substantially-sized specimen grows near the ORCA sign and is very visible from Oslo Road.

Native to Florida and Georgia, this uncommon plant grows in the light sun and dappled shade at the edges of hammocks.  The sister storms of 2004 brought increased sunlight into hammocks and spread seeds, causing hammock snakeroot to flourish and to be noticed.

You may notice that its flowers resemble the flowers of ageratum.  Its genus name – Ageratina – is a diminutive of Ageratum.  Its species name – jucunda – means pleasing.

Inconspicuous when not in flower, this plant has lanceolate (spear-shaped leaves) with serrate leaf margins (edges) and long petioles (leaf stems).  In shady places where hammock snakeroot reaches for the light, plants will be far taller than wide and somewhat vine-like in habit.  When plenty of light is available, as it is near the ORCA sign, hammock snakeroot will form an attractive rounded shape.