Yellow milkwort (Polygala rugelli) is also known as Rugel’s milkwort. These beautiful annual wildflowers blossom on top of tall thin stems that can reach heights of 1 – 3 feet tall. The leaves are larger near the bottom and smaller and sparser near the top of the stem where the 3/4 – 1 inch dazzling yellow flower blooms. This endemic plant blooms all year in the Florida peninsula but is most prolific in the summer and fall. It reproduces by seeds, some of which are dispersed by ants that take the seeds to their nest. There the ants eat the food bodies known as elaiosomes before discarding the seeds outside the nest where they will take root. Look for Yellow Milkwort in wet pine flatwoods, savannas, and at the edges of marshes.
Photo credit: Aymee Laurain