Explore Nature ...

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

No Longer Native

Blanket flower (Gaillardia pulchella), also commonly called firewheel, had been thought to be native for many years. This plant flourishes in Florida and the southeast U.S. Recent DNA evidence indicates that this plant is native to the southwest. You can…

Oyster Bar Marsh

Many thanks to Dave Fuss, Indian River Land Trust (IRLT) Director of Stewardship, for leading a wonderful walk at the recently opened Oyster Bar Marsh Conservation Area. Indian River County purchased much of the property in 2001, and the IRLT…

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.…