440 acres adjacent to the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, University of Florida/IFAS
Wild coffee (Psychotria nervosa), now in flower, attracts butterflies, bees, and other pollinators.
Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) is now flowering. Its pale pink flowers are attractive to pollinators.
Hairypod cowpea (Vigna luteola) is a delicate and fast-growing native vine that some folks characterize as weedy. Other common names for this plant include cowpea, hairy cowpea, wild cowpea, and yellow vigna. Its genus name, Vigna, honors Italian professor Dominicus Vigna…
Florida sensitive brier (Mimosa quadrivalvis) is not your typical pea. It is thorny, very thorny. To be technically correct, it is prickly. Prickles grow from the epidermis of the plant and, as a result, can grow anywhere on a plant.…
Donna Winter (Class of 2016) shared the wonderful photos of mangrove rubbervine (Rhabdadenia biflora) shown above. This high-climbing, very vigorous vine clambers over mangroves and other vegetation, so some folks describe it as weedy. Under moist conditions, It can colonize…
Plant species matter! Blue porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis) is native to Florida, according the Florida Plant Atlas. Nettleleaf velvetberry (Stachytarpheta cayennensis) is listed as a category #2 invasive pest plant by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council (FLEPP) and was, until…
Fran Robinson (Class of 2018) sent this photo of a gall on her white crownbeard (Verbesina virginica) plant. This gall likely is the handiwork of a gall midge (Neolasioptera verbesinae). Its species name, verbesinae, speaks to its fidelity to the genus Verbesina.…
Originally posted on Treasure Coast Natives:
Never say never. The dogmatic answer to that frequently posed question is a comforting “no” echoed throughout garden publications. Here is a typical statement from the New Mexico State University Horticultural Guide H-167: “Lichens…
It’s an orchid. That should be a wonderful addition to your yard! Right?? No, Chinese crown orchid (Eulophia graminea) is a Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council Category #2 invasive exotic pest plant, Many thanks to Donna Winter (Class of 2016)…
When we visited the Ansin Tract Conservation Area on 3-30-2019, we saw false indigo (Amorpha fruticosa) growing along the St. Sebastian River and in other moist places. This plant goes by variety of common names: Bastard false indigo, bastard indigo,…
Stinging hairs cover the leaves, stems, flowers, and seed capsules of tread-softly (Cnidoscolus stimulosus). Also known as finger-rot, the hairs of this native plant contain irritating compounds that cause intense stinging and itching. A nasty rash of red pustules often…
When we visited Captain Forster Hammock Preserve on a marvelously breezy day, 4-13-2019, we saw lots of butterflies and lots of “peas”. The pea family, Fabaceae, includes about 20,000 species of trees, shrubs, vines, and herbs in more than 700…
We saw lots of butterflies when we visited the Captain Forster Hammock Preserve on 4/13/2019 including this white peacock butterfly (Anartia jatrophae) nectaring on common beggarticks (Bidens alba), as were an abundance of julia butterflies. Common beggarticks is a preferred nectar…
Julia butterflies (Dryas iulia) were amazingly abundant at the Captain Forster Hammock Preserve when we visited there on 4-12-2019. Near to the parking lot, they were sipping nectar from snow squarestem (Melanthera nivea) shown above. Nearer to Highway A1A, these…
As we walked from the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory Boathouse to to the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) on 3/30/2019, we saw lots of striking spikes of scarlet flowers radiating up from within the vegetation along the road. The coralbean…
Jane Schnee (Class of 2010) identified purple bushbean (Macroptilium atropurpureum) growing up a cabbage palm at the Ansin Tract Conservation Area, before she led a walk for us there on 4/6/2019. This perennial vine with a swollen taproot can grow…
Donna Winter (Class of 2016) identified this beautiful bay lobelia (Lobelia feayana) growing in a very moist area near the canoe launch that is adjacent to the Ansin Tract Conservation Area visited on 4-6-2019. Bay lobelia flowers are tiny (1/4-…
Vin Gemmetti (Class of 2019) had on his phone a photo of a vine that he wanted identified. It is one of the twelve species of greenbrier (or catbrier) found in Florida and is shown above in a photo taken…
On 4-6-2019 this group visited the Ansin Tract Conservation Area, a 29-acre property near the headwaters of the St. Sebastian River to check out the new trails and the wetland crossover bridge recently installed by Indian River County … One…
Twoleaf nightshade (Solanum diphyllum) produces lots and lots of fruits. Each dime-sized fruit ripens to be orange-yellow and contains lots of tiny, tan, flat, kidney-shaped seeds that can produce lots of seedlings … The common name for this plant and…
As we returned to the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) parking lot after an Invasive Plant ID talk, we looked up and spied red wild pines (Tillandsia fasciculata) showing the coloration for which they are named. Cardinal wild pine is…
Common names of plants sometimes can be confusing. Mexican pricklypoppy (Argerome mexicana), pictured above in the historic cow pens at Treasure Hammock Ranch, is a native annual, even if some of its many common names says that it’s Mexican. Goatweed,…
Donna Winter (Class of 2016) shared this great closeup of a white peacock butterfly (Anartia jatropha) that she saw at the Toni Robinson Waterfront Trail (TRWT). This beautiful butterfly is present throughout the year and tends to fly low to…
Invasive exotic pest plants plague natural areas, ornamental landscapes, agricultural operations, and pastures. Pictured above is tropical soda apple (Solanum viarum), which we saw when we visited Treasure Hammock Ranch on 3-3-2019. This heavily armed & sun-loving weed of pastures…
Sharp-eyed Trich Kruza (Class of 2015) spotted the tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) in the foreground of this photo taken at Treasure Hammock Ranch, where we visited on 3-3-2019. Lots of this weedy, non-native milkweed was flourishing in the pasture, but…
Butterweed (Packera glabella) is named for its butter-yellow flowers. Cressleaf groundsel is another name for the widespread wildflower that grows through the central and southern U.S. It also sometimes is commonly called yellowtop (but so are some other plants). Butterweed flowers…
This vine was dangling from a tree at Treasure Hammock Ranch when we visited on 3/3/2019 and likely would have gone unnoticed were it not for its signifcant fruits … From the outside the fruit resembles a good-sized avocado, but…
Rancher Mike Sexton graciously hosted a group of us at Treasure Hammock Ranch on Sunday, 3-3-2019 and showed us around his favorite pasture, where he played as child, in the midst of cabbage palms (Sabal palmetto) and live oaks (Quercus…
The devastating damage caused by the deadly combination of laurel wilt and the redbay ambrosia beetle is unmistakable and is shown above in a photo taken in May of 2008 on Highway A1A. This invasive disease carried by an invasive…
The Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory Volunteer Nature Stewardship Program started to “celebrate” National Invasive Species Week a bit early on 2/16/2019 with a talk by Dr. Amanda Hodges, University of Florida Associate Extension Scientist & Doctor of Plant Medicine Program Director,…
Florida privet (Forestiera segregata) is flowering again. Wild olive is another name for this sturdy native plant often found volunteering along mosquito impoundment dikes and in the midst of ornamental hedges underneath places where birds perch. Birds seem to love…
The weather for the hike to the Observation Tower on Saturday, 1-26-2019, was dank & drizzly, but we were rewarded by the brief presence of playful reddish egret, a species know for its clownish hurting behavior, and a much longer…
It’s tenuous … The scientific names of plants seems to change more and more — with the advent of DNA analysis. Seems like every time I look at the Florida Plant Atlas, the scientific name of the plant has been…
Tallow wood (Ximenia americana) has many common names such as tallow plum, tallow nut, sea seaside plum, and sea lemon. The fruits of this sprawling, thorny large shrub or small tree (to about 20′) are bright yellow drupes. Inside the…
Tallow wood (Ximenia americana) is a thorny sprawling shrub or small tree (usually) of dry places and is shown above along the beginning of the trail at the south Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area. Its genus name, Ximenia, honors Francisco Ximenez, a…
The Wabasso scrub, which we visited on 11/11/2018, is not all dry. In the midst of dry scrub pretty near the beginning of the trail was a fern-filled wetland. Since of focus was scrub and Florida scrub-jays, it was identified…
A plant gall is an abnormal outgrowth of plant tissue caused by a “gall-maker”, which could be an insect, mite, virus, nematode or fungus. The inter-relationship between plant and gall-maker is complex, very specific, and developed over eons. The relationship…
Live oak trees (Quercus virginiana) have been producing so many acorns this year that Florida Today has written a story about it. Live oaks produce acorns every year, but, when they produce an especial abundance, a “bumper crop”, it is…
