floridanativeplants

Coral Bean

If you want to attract hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden, plant coral bean (Erythrina herbacea). The Florida native plant can grow into a small tree in Southern Florida and grow 6 feet tall in Northern and Central Florida before it freezes.
The brilliant red flowers bloom in spring and sometimes in the fall. In the fall, seed pods appear and will turn dark before opening to reveal dazzling red seeds. The seeds a poisonous to pets and humans. Coral bean prefers well-drained, sandy soils and is moderately salt tolerant. Propagation is from cuttings or scarified seeds.
Photo Credit: Aymee Laurain
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Butterfly Weed

Butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa, is also known as Butterfly milkweed. It is the most popular native species of milkweed in Florida. This hardy perennial grows 1-2 feet tall and is abundant throughout Florida. Its bright orange flowers bloom in late summer through fall and attract a variety of pollinators.

Butterfly weed is readily available at native plant nurseries. Once established, it thrives in dry, sandy soil in sun or part shade. Monarchs rely on milkweeds in the genus Asclepias for their survival since it is the only plant monarch caterpillars will eat. Plant some in your wildflower garden to attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.

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BioLab Road

BioLab Road at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Take a slow 5.6-mile drive in the comfort of your car on Bio Lab Road in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. It is a one-way road running north to south. With wetlands to your right and the water to your left, you are sure to see plenty of shorebirds. Look for ducks, ibises, egrets, sandpipers, spoonbills, pelicans, herons, and of course, alligators. Be sure to bring your camera and binoculars.

In 1962, NASA purchased 140,000 acres of land located adjacent to Cape Canaveral. The John F. Kennedy Space Center was built complete with launch pads. In 1963, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW) and NASA entered into an Interagency Agreement. This agreement allowed USFW to establish the land that was unused by NASA as the Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Established to provide habitat for wildlife diversity, migratory birds, and endangered and threatened species, Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge consists of scrub, pine flatwoods, hardwood hammocks, saltwater marshes, freshwater impoundments, and coastal dunes. Over 1,500 species of plants and animals including 15 federally listed species make their homes here.

Watch for bobcats, otters, and deer. Lizards, snakes, alligators, and turtles make their homes here. 358 species of birds have been recorded at the refuge. Birds of prey include bald eagles, osprey, red-shouldered hawks, and American kestrels. Look for killdeer, Wilson’s snipes, and ring-billed gulls along the shore. Look up to see blue jays, barn swallows, American robins, pine warblers, and more. Blue herons, ibis, and egrets are plentiful. Ring-necked ducks, blue-winged teals, and wood ducks can be seen swimming in the waters at the refuge. Threatened and endangered species such as the eastern indigo snake, scrub-jay, gopher tortoise, wood stork, West Indian Manatee, and Southeastern Beach Mouse find refuge here.

For more information click here: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Merritt_Island/

Photo credit: David Gale

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Mullet Lake Park

– Mullet Lake Park-

Located in Geneva in Seminole County, Mullet Lake Park is best known for its 8 primitive camping sites, its group camping site, and boat launches. The 55-acre park borders Lake Mullet and the St Johns River. This quaint park offers the opportunity to sit and relax under ancient oak trees as you take in the sights and sounds at this remote location.

Listen for the sounds of birds, fish jumping, and frogs croaking. Look for birds of prey, shorebirds, and a variety of blooming wildflowers waiting to be admired.

For more information click here: https://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/…/301554-Mullet-Lake-Park.…

Photo credit: Dan Kon

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Ironweed

Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea) is a Florida native and can be a beautiful addition to your wildflower garden. Ironweed grows 3-10 feet tall, can be planted in partial shade or sun, and blooms from July through October. Butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees love this pollinator perennial. As its name suggests, ironweed is a tough plant with deep-set roots and seeds that spread easily in your garden. Be prepared to prune and maintain to keep this beauty in check.

Look for Ironweed growing in the wild where the soil is moist. You may also see this hardy plant along the side of the road or a stream as well as in the woods, prairies, savannas, and grasslands.

Photo Credit: Aymee Laurain

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Leafless Beaked Lady Orchid

Leafless Beaked Lady Orchid, Sacoila lanceolata, is a threatened Florida native found in pastures, pine flatlands, and most often, on roadsides. These striking red beauties with hints of white and fine hairs were apparently gifted to IOF Directors Dan & Nancy by a seed-dispersing bird. Lady Orchids bloom on a leafless stem from mid-March through June and will reach heights of 8 – 24 inches.
Bonus: Hummingbirds in search of nectar are attracted to Lady Orchids.

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Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park

“This park is like nothing else in Florida. Being able to see the stars at night in unbelievable detail was absolutely worth the trip.” Jonathan Holmes, IOF Contributor

There is a place in Florida that is world-renowned for stargazing. Designated as a Dark Sky Park due to the absence of light pollution, the stars and planets can be enjoyed the way nature intended.

Located in Okeechobee, Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park is part of the headwaters to the Everglades and is the largest remaining dry prairie ecosystem in Florida. Once spanning coast to coast and from Lake Okeechobee to Kissimmee, the prairie has been reduced to a mere 10% of its original expanse.

Throughout the years, humans have altered the prairie to suit their needs. The State Park is working to restore the land to pre-European influence. Over 70 miles of ditches and canals have been restored to swales and sloughs. Old plow lines are slated for reconditioning, and a cattle pasture will be restored to native shrubs and grasses. As a fire and flood dependent ecosystem, these efforts will allow the prairie to thrive once again.

The most famous resident of the prairie is the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow. Critically endangered, the sparrows rely on a healthy prairie ecosystem for survival. Crested Caracaras, Burrowing Owls, Wood Storks, Swallow-Tail Kites, and White-Tail Kites find refuge at the park. Watch for Bald Eagles, White-tailed Deer, and Indigo Snakes. Native wildflowers are abundant. Look for Blazing Stars, Yellow Bachelors Buttons, Meadow Beauty, Pipewort, and Alligator Lilies.

There is plenty to do at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve. Hiking, horseback riding, and biking are wonderful ways to experience Nature up close. Camping, primitive camping, and equestrian camping are offered for those who want to spend the night. A ranger-led prairie buggy tour and an astronomy pad are spectacular ways to enjoy the park.

For reservations, times, fees, and more click here:
https://www.floridastateparks.org/…/kissimmee-prairie-prese…

Photo Credit – Jonathan Holmes

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Leavenworth’s tickseed

Leavenworth’s tickseed Coreopsis leavenworthii

The Leavenworth’s tickseed is an endemic flower that provides food for several pollinators. It can usually be found in pine flatwoods where the soil is dry but can adapt to other regions. Here we have pictures with a species of fruitfly, Dioxyna picciola, and a Green sweat bee, Agapostemon splendens. Most flowers are produced in spring but flowers can be found year-round. Have you spotted these beauties anywhere around the state?

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Resurrection Fern

Resurrection Fern – Pleopeltis polypodioides

The Plant that Rises from the Dead.

The Resurrection Fern, also known as. the Miracle fern lives on branches and trunks of trees. Live Oaks and Cypress Trees are their favorite hosts. They have been seen growing on rocks and on the sides of buildings. Resurrection Ferns are air ferns that attach themselves to a host plant or rock and will get moisture and food from the air and rain. They will also gather nutrients that collect on the outer part of their host. The fern does not steal any nutrients from its host and therefore will not harm the host.

Have you seen ferns that are curled up, brown, and appear to be dead? Simply add water and they miraculously uncurl and resurrect to a live, healthy, green fern.

Resurrection Ferns can lose up to 97% of their water content and still come back to life when water returns. In contrast, most plants can only lose 10% of their water content before their cells collapse and they die. Like all ferns, Resurrection Ferns reproduce from spores.

These ferns can be found from Florida to as far north as New York and as far west as Texas. They are so fascinating that in the late ’90s, NASA sent a Resurrection Fern on the space shuttle Discovery to watch it miraculously come to life in zero gravity.

 

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Sea Oats

Sea Oats (Uniola paniculata)

Sea Oats are an important species of coastal sand dunes. The dunes provide housing and food to a variety of wildlife. The Florida beach mouse is an endemic species isolated to coastal dunes. Roseate terns, least terns, loggerheads, Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, green sea turtles, hawksbill sea turtles, leatherback sea turtles, and Black skimmers rely on dunes for nesting. Piping plovers and southeastern snowy plover spend the winter in Florida where they breed in coastal dunes. American oystercatchers feed on small invertebrates and breed on sand dunes (U.S. Fish and Wildlife).

Reconstruction of coastal dunes is a common method of fighting climate change. In an effort to determine if this approach was offering a benefit to vertebrates, a study was conducted between June 2015 and June 2016 to compare natural coastal dunes and reconstructed coastal dunes. After collecting 2537 photos, 33 species were recorded. Common species overlapped both natural and reconstructed dunes. Differences were a result of rare species that were isolated to one area. Overall, the two types of dunes attracted similar types and numbers of vertebrates (Martin et al 2018).

Sea oats may not be endangered but they are protected under Title XI Chapter 161 Section 242 of Florida Statute due to their ability to stabilize sand in coastal regions and protect coasts from erosion. Can you think of any beautiful spaces with sea oats?

References

Martin, Scott A., Rhett M. Rautsaw, M. Rebecca Bolt, Christopher L. Parkinson, and Richard A. Seigel. 2018. Estimating the response of wildlife communities to coastal dune construction. Vol. 161.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Beach Dune, Coastal Strand, and Maritime Hammock. Multi-Species Recovery Plan for South Florida. 3:72-76

Photo credit: Aymee Laurain

 

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Flame Vine

 

The flame vine is native to Brazil. This beautiful vine with long orange tuber flowers has become a common accent to many gardens and has attracted pollinators including hummingbirds. However, the flame vine grows like wildfire and can become invasive rather quickly (University of Florida).

Indigenous people of Brazil used the plant to treat several conditions including skin irritations, diarrhea, coughing, respiratory infections, bronchitis, flu, and cold. Research has found several pharmaceutical properties in the plant including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antinociceptive, wound healing properties, antimicrobial, reduction in cold and fever symptoms, treatment of menopause, and melanogenesis. These properties can be carefully extracted and refined to produce a number of medications (Mostafa, El-Dahshan, and Singab 2013).

References

Mostafa NM, El-Dahshan O, Singab ANB (2013) Pyrostegia venusta (Ker Gawl.) Miers: A Botanical, Pharmacological and Phytochemical Review. Med Aromat Plants 2:123. doi:10.4172/2167-0412.1000123

The University of Florida. Flame Vine. Gardening solutions. Accessed June, 19,2019. http://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/…/or…/flame-vine.html

 

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Buttonbush

Buttonbush

A Florida Native, buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) blooms in late spring and throughout the summer. The blossoms of the buttonbush shrub resemble a pincushion more than they resemble a button. The blooms are 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter and have a pleasant fragrance. They attract a variety of insects including butterflies, moths, bees, and wasps.

Buttonbush is an understory shrub and will grow 4-8 feet wide and can reach heights of 20 feet. They are commonly found in marshes, swamps, sloughs, and ponds and are used for nesting by many bird species. In the fall, the buttonbush will produce bright red fruits. Seeds are enjoyed by ducks, jays, cardinals, titmice, mockingbirds, and warblers.

Buttonbush is available at many native nurseries and will flourish in wetlands and on wetland edges.

Photo Credit: Aymee Laurain.

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Wild Coffee

Wild Coffee (Psychotria nervosa) is a Florida native shrub that gets its name from the small, red fruit it produces. Other names are wood balsam, Seminole Balsamo, and café marron. It is extremely cold sensitive. If it freezes it resprouts in the spring producing a shorter plant.

Wild Coffee, grows as a dense, round, multi-stemmed shrub about 5 feet tall and spreads between 4 to 8 feet. You will see it in pinelands, shell ridges, coastal hammocks, and sandy shaded areas. Its leaves are glossy, puckered, waxy, and light green when in full sun. When in the shade the leaves are deep forest green. The leaves are 5 inches long with veins running through them. Small, white flowers bloom in spring and summer and produce a fragrance similar to the gardenia.

Many butterflies, including the Florida state butterfly, the zebra longwing, and the spicebush swallowtail drink nectar from the flowers of wild coffee. Honeybees visit the flowers and pollinate them. Bright red, half-inch berries appear, in late summer or fall, each with two seeds. These seeds are an important food source for cardinals, catbirds, mockingbirds, and blue jays, as well as other birds. Wild coffee berries were once used as a coffee substitute even though they do not contain caffeine.

The shrub grows well in alkaline soil. It is not salt-tolerant, but germinates readily, has few pest problems, needs only varying amounts of water, and is not invasive. It also prevents soil erosion. With its contrasting green leaves and red berries, its fragrance when in bloom, and its wildlife benefits, the Wild Coffee shrub will make a wonderful addition to a shady spot in your landscape.

Photo Credit: Mary Keim – berries  Bobby Putnam – flowers
https://www.flickr.com/photos/38514062@N03/6415497635…

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Ghost Orchid

The Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii,) is rare and endangered. There are only an estimated 2000 left in Florida. This orchid is prized for its long, white delicate petals. It is leafless and its roots attach to the host tree. The mass of green roots clings tightly to the trunks. It is distinguished from other species of orchid by the presence of thin white markings dotting its roots.

The Ghost Orchid gets its name from its ability to move at night. It appears as if it’s floating, like a ghost.

The Ghost Orchid is pollinated by the Giant Spinx Moth, whose long tongue can reach the nectar that is not accessible to many insects. The swamps of cypress, pond apple, and palm trees are its preferred environment. The orchid’s specific habitat requirements are high humidity, mild temperatures, and dappled shade.

The Ghost Orchid does not flower reliably. It will typically flower one to two weeks once a year. It requires a specific fungus (mycorrhizal) to be able to thrive. because it is leafless, the orchid relies on its roots to produce sugars from sunlight. The Ghost Orchid has a symbiotic relationship with the fungus as it gathers nutrients from it in exchange for extra sugars.

Habitat destruction and development, as well as over-collecting, have been responsible for the decline of ghost orchid populations. The Ghost Orchid is a protected species in public land areas.

With gratitude to Jay Staton for his patience and perseverance in capturing this rare sight.
JAY STATON -Published on Oct 20, 2014
“A ghost orchid’s flower takes, on average, 2 days to fully open. This short video shows the remarkable beauty of the most sought-after orchid in the world, including background sound that gets you in the mood.”

https://youtu.be/USbPKZLFS14

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Sea Grape

Sea Grape (Coccoloba uvifera).

The Sea Grape thrives in Florida’s sandy soils. This plant tolerates windy conditions and can act as a windbreak. As well as being salt and drought tolerant, it will stabilize sand dunes while providing habitat for wildlife. This includes protection for nesting sea turtles from artificial light. Look for Sea Grapes in their natural habitat along the beach.

The Sea Grape has an unusual texture with big, round leaves which grow upright on the branches. The leaves are leathery and grow 8 to 10 inches with a reddish tint. They have red veining and some leaves will turn completely red. The female shrubs produce clusters of fruit that resemble grapes that will start out green, and ripen to purple. This plant needs a male and female to cross-pollinate and bear fruit. A Sea Grape plant with its outstretched branches will grow between 6 to 8 feet tall and wide.

The Sea Grape is a small native evergreen tropical tree that can grow as a shrub or be trained as a hedge and does best in full to partial sunlight. Although sensitive to frost, Sea Grape plants can be grown in your yard or garden. Be sure to water until established. Their fruit is very sweet and when ripe provides a tasty treat for people, birds, and squirrels. Jellies and wine are made from Sea Grapes. Consider planting a Sea Grape Plant in your Florida Native Garden.

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