Not long ago on my way home from work I spotted several pretty purple flowers growing on the side of our dirt road. I had noticed some similar looking flowers earlier in the journey, but there had been too much traffic to safely stop. This time stopping was not an issue, so I stopped for a look. It turned out that these little beauties were rose rush flowers (Lygodesmia aphylla) also sometimes called rushweed or Florida skeleton weed. They are members of the aster family (Asteraceae) and can only be found in Florida and a few counties in southern Georgia. Like all asters, the flowers are actually made up of multiple florets. They are closely related to the Texas skeleton weed which grows in the desert southwest.

These flowers love our sandy soil and direct sunlight, so they are pretty common in the sandhills, the pine flatwoods, and pine barrens. They are perennials that bloom in the spring and summer with flowers opening just before dawn and lasting until nightfall. The flowers are very attractive to pollinators and some people plant them in butterfly gardens or as ornamentals. They look best as an ornamental if a group of plants are placed together since these plants have very few if any leaves on their stems (hence the name skeleton weed). They mainly reproduce by seed production and will self seed easily. It’s also easy to collect the seeds for planting in new places.

I’ve always really enjoyed these flowers because of their beautiful violet color, but they’re even more special since they can’t be found anywhere else in the world except our little state (and South Georgia. Plants and animals don’t seem to recognize man made boundaries).