Explore Nature ...

Nature is everywhere … Enhance your understanding of the plants, insects, animals & complex interactions by reading about the ORCA & other natural areas.

Love vine

Love vine (Cassytha filiformis) is used in love potions. It purportedly is an aphrodisiac, contains a good bit of caffeine, and has a root beer-like taste. Other common names for this hemi-parasitic vine include woevine, laurel dodder, devil’s gut, and…

Sea lavender

Carolina sealavender (Limonium carolinianum) is a perennial herb of salt marshes from Florida to Texas to Quebec to Labrador/Newfoundland. It blooms throughout the year in southern central Florida and South Florida and in spring/summer in cooler climates. At the Toni…

Speckled

Florida is home to 12 different species of greenbrier vines, vines in the genus Smilax. Only 3 species occur in the Indian River County, and all 3 of these species grow at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area. Common names for…

Leaves of 5, Let It Thrive

Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is a wide-ranging, high-climbing woody vine that often brings smidges of seasonal color. Also known as woodbind, American ivy, and fire-leaved ivy, Virginia creeper grows from Quebec through the Northeast U.S. to Florida, Cuba, the Bahamas,…

Bright Crab?

As Hurricane Nicole approaches on 11/9/2022, a blue land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) has worked hard to raise the height of the entry to its burrow. Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) and Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) are home to lots…

Laurel Wilt Sadness

So sad to see that a large redbay (Persea borbonia) in the mesic hammock at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) has succumbed to laurel wilt. Laurel wilt (Raffaelea lauricola) is an invasive fungal disease that arrived in the U.S.…

Wet, wet, wet

Sweet Sam, Bob Montanaro’s dog,, stands at the trailhead to the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, wondering about the wet conditions. This picture was taken in early September of 2016, a year with “usual” summer rainfall. Every year is different, and…

Love is the Air

It’s that time of year, again! Love bugs flourish twice per year: April – May and August – September. Also know as honeymoon bugs, double-headed bugs, and March flies, these short-lived insects are harmless to people but hell on automotive…

Crab Craftery

Populations of blue land crabs (Cardisoma guanhami) have declined dramatically over the years due to over-harvesting and habitat loss. They are most active at dawn and dusk near the full moon. September and October tend to be their most active…