440 acres adjacent to the Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, University of Florida/IFAS
Nature does nothing uselessly — Aristotle
Nature is everywhere. Enjoy exploring the puzzles & complexities of nature at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area & on this website. You will find some of the plants, insects, and animals that you see here in your yard, along the roadsides, and elsewhere.
Enjoy nature everywhere.
Thanks to Tim Archer (Class of 2024) for the great photos below of the sole candyroot (Polygala nana) that we saw on our class walk at the South Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (SORCA) on 2/11/2024. Alas, it was the only…
Plant names can be problematic. Common names are not standardized. And, botanists change botanical names. Cindy Hersh (Class of 2016) on our walk at the Barrier Island Sanctuary and Education Center on 2/11/2024 pointed out a wispy & lovely wildflower.…
Thanks to Master Naturalist Cindy Hersh (Class of 2016) for leading a marvelous walk on the morning of Sunday, 2/11/24 from dune to lagoon at the Barrier Island Sanctuary and Education Center located just north of Sebastian Inlet State Park…
The 2024 Volunteer Nature Stewardship Class took a stroll along the main trail at the Captain Forster Hammock Preserve on Jthe beautiful afternoon of January 28 from the parking lot on historic Jungle Trail to the coastal strand/Atlantic Ocean. The…
The 2024 Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) – Environmental Learning Center (ELC) Volunteer Nature Stewardship Class enjoyed a stroll on the ELC led by Marc Spiess, the ELC Campus Manager. On that walk he pointed out a beard lichen (Usnea…
Years ago local radio channel WTTB and its billboards proclaimed that Vero Beach was Where The Tropics Begin. (WTTB). This statement, while reasonably accurate during the end of the last century, it is no longer true due to warming temperatures.…
Pictured above is the Volunteer Nature Stewardship class of 2015 clustered up getting ready to take a walk in the hammock at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) on the north side of Oslo Road on 1/24/2015. A new Volunteer…
Florida’s native poinsettia, paintedleaf (Euphorbia cyathophora), is native to much of the U.S, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. This native annual wildflower goes dormant in cooler climes but grows year-round in warmer locales. In Florida, paintedleaf grows…
This yellow necklacepod (Sophora tomentosa var. truncata) has “volunteered” in an open, recently mowed area at Bird’s impoundment at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge (PINWR) where you can go east or west on the 2 1/2 mile impoundment dike loop.…
Rosary pea (Abrus precartorius) was flowering at the northern end of Jungle Trail near the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge (PINWR) when we visited on 10-8-2023. This member of the pea family, Fabaceae, is an invasive pest plant in Florida…
The pea family, Fabaceae, is quite diverse. When we visited Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge (PINWR) on 10-8-2023, we saw grey nicker (Guilandina bonduc), a yellow-flowered, robust, and thorny vine. Never would you confuse it with hairypod cowpea (Vigna luteola),…
The pea (a.k.a. bean or legume) family, Fabaceae, is the third largest plant family and includes a plethora of vines, herbs, shrubs, and trees. It is sometimes called by its older name, Leguminosae, and includes around 20,000 species and 750…
Enjoy the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area 