Carolina fanwort
Cabomba caroliniana · Cabombaceae
Carolina fanwort (Cabomba caroliniana) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Cabombaceae family. It is native to North America. USDA records it as hardy in zone 4 and warmer, down to about -23°F.
⚠ Invasive or noxious status. USDA lists this plant with an invasive or noxious weed status somewhere in its range. Check your state's noxious weed list before planting it — in some states it is illegal to sell or plant.
Both flags are quoted from USDA PLANTS, not inferred.
At a glance
| Type | forb-herb USDA |
|---|---|
| Lifecycle | perennial USDA |
| Native status | native USDA |
| Light | part-shade USDA |
| Water need | high USDA |
| Growth rate | rapid USDA |
| Soil pH | 5.7–9.2 USDA |
| Flower color | White USDA |
| Hardiness zones | 4 and warmer USDA |
| Guild layer | understory Derived |
| Nursery availability | Routinely Available USDA |
USDA quoted from the USDA PLANTS database · Derived computed by a fixed rule from those columns. No value on this page is estimated.
Growing conditions
It grows in partial shade. USDA rates it as having needs consistently moist ground. It is recorded on soils from pH 5.7 to 9.2 — a broad range that spans acidic through mildly alkaline ground. Its cold limit is zone 4; USDA publishes no warm-end limit, so gardeners in warmer zones should check local heat tolerance separately.
Size and growth
It grows quickly, which matters when you are timing a planting around the layers above it.
Role in a guild
Understory. In a layered planting this is the layer beneath the canopy, tall enough to hold structure but shaded from above. We derive the layer from the plant's growth habit and mature height using a fixed rule, so the same inputs always produce the same layer.
Tags
Related plants
Similar role and hardiness
- bushy bluestem Andropogon glomeratus
- giant cane Arundinaria gigantea
- bursting-heart Euonymus americanus
- Hooker's evening primrose Oenothera elata
- eastern gamagrass Tripsacum dactyloides
Where this data comes from
Every value on this page comes from the USDA PLANTS database record for symbol CACA, or is computed from those values by a fixed rule. Nothing here is estimated or model-generated. Where USDA publishes no value, this page omits the claim rather than filling the gap.
commercial_availability— quoted from USDA PLANTSduration— quoted from USDA PLANTSflower_color— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_habit— quoted from USDA PLANTSgrowth_rate— quoted from USDA PLANTSguild_role— derived by rule from USDA columnsinvasive_caution— quoted from USDA PLANTSmoisture— quoted from USDA PLANTSnative_status— quoted from USDA PLANTSnitrogen_fixer— quoted from USDA PLANTSpet_safe— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_max— quoted from USDA PLANTSph_min— quoted from USDA PLANTSshade_tolerance— quoted from USDA PLANTStemperature_min_f— quoted from USDA PLANTSzone_min— quoted from USDA PLANTS
Read our full data sources and methodology.
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