| Author | (Cook & Semple) Semple & J.B.Beck | |
| Distribution | Limited to the southeastern Coastal Plain, near the coast. There is one Research Grade photo on iNaturalist, by Eric Ungberg in Croatan National Forest in Craven County, in November 2021. Though no specimens show in SERNEC by the species or varietal name of zedia, there might be specimens of S. caesia that may actually be this taxon.
"E. NC and GA and Panhandle FL west to LA and AR." (Weakley 2024) | |
| Abundance | Likely very rare to rare, but not known. There are specimens of S. caesia from lower Coastal Plain counties that might represent this recently elevated taxon. For now, the website editors suggest a State Rank of S1? | |
| Habitat | "Moist forests" (Weakley 2024) | |
| Phenology | Flowers and fruits in September and October, fruiting into November. | |
| Identification | The species is very similar to S. caesia, obviously, as it has been "split off from" that species. Both have the numerous flower clusters along the stem in leaf axils, but S. zedia has wider leaves at first glance. Weakley (2024) says that this species has "Lower midstem leaves broadly lanceolate to rhombic, 5-9 cm long, 1.3-2.4 cm wide, 3-4× as long as wide; stems weakly arching; plants usually strongly clonal, forming relatively dense patches", whereas S. caesia has "Lower midstem leaves narrowly lanceolate, 5-15 cm long, 0.8-3 cm wide, 5-6× as long as wide; stems strongly arching; plants growing singly". | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Not in Weakley (2023) or his earlier floras. Many references consider this as a variety of S. caesia; however, iNaturalist does list it as a full species.
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| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | [S1?] | |
| Global Rank | G5TNR | |
| State Status | [W7] | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
