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Crocanthemum corymbosum
Pinebarren Frostweed
Rock-rose
Synonym(s): Helianthemum corymbosum
Florida native
Crocanthemum corymbosum is a perennial herb of scrub, sandhills, dunes and dry open hammocks in the southeastern coastal states from Mississippi to North Carolina and throughout much of Florida.
The downy or hairy stem is erect and 20-30 cm (8-12 in.) tall. There are 5-petaled yellow flowers with many stamens. The petals fall off the day after blooming. Pinebarren frostweed also has small self-pollinating flowers without petals clustered in the leaf axils. Also called rock-rose, it blooms from late winter into the summer in Florida. The leaves are alternate and narrowly elliptic to ovate, hairy, silvery-green below and dark green above. There is no basal rosette of leaves in this species.
The common name pinebarren frostweed comes from the trait that when temperatures are low enough, the plant extrudes broad thin ice crystals from the stem near the base of the plant.
Previously considered Helianthemum corymbosum, the genus has been split with the Old World species having opposite leaves with stipules remaining in the genus Helianthemum and New World species with alternate leaves without stipules now members of the genus Crocanthemum.
Crocanthemum corymbosum is a member of the Cistaceae - Rock-rose family.
Other species of the Crocanthemum genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Crocanthemum nashii - FLORIDA SCRUB FROSTWEED
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Jan 28, 2021
